Personality Crisis

The beauty of living in Fantasy Nation is that consumers can say anything pro- or anti-government, and it doesn't fucking matter. Holds zero weight. Has absolutely no bearing or influence on actual policy. We yell from our cages, maybe rattle the bars, and then it's back to whatever cultural distraction keeps us locked in. The envy of the world.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal's Rolling Stone routine, Don Rickles in camo, has liberals aflutter. Progs are predictably outraged by McChrystal's affront to Their President, citing dead documents like the Constitution, respect for the seal, the flag, the nation state itself. Liberals love to prove their superior patriotism, and this executive dust-up lends them a small stage to show their allegiance.

They'll also rally to a Dem president, regardless of how awful he or she is. Had Joe Lieberman ever found his way into the Oval Office, those liberals who now hate him (after voting to put him a heartbeat away in 2000, and wishing he was there through 2008) would defend Lieberman from nefarious GOP plots. The comic potential of this is so rich that I wish it had happened. The fix would be too glaring to deny, which would take denial to another, hopefully entertaining level.

The kicker, of course, is that all these righteous gyrations are meaningless. Political karaoke. Flexing in the mirror. Countless online libs insist that Obama "should" say this, "ought" to do that, dreaming up scenarios that may offer temporary balm, but have no relation to reality. They seem to think that administration figures not only read their recommendations, but might seriously consider and act on them. We're all in this together, right?

Many liberals mention Harry Truman's firing of Douglas MacArthur over Korean policy. Now that's how a kick-ass Commander-in-Chief rolls! That Truman and MacArthur differed tactically, primarily over the use of nuclear weapons (MacArthur was for it, Truman batted around the option with aides), is beside the point. That Truman helped oversee mass murder and vast destruction in the North, reducing much of it to smoldering rubble, forcing survivors to live in caves, is the back story. Harry stood up to Doug, as Barack must do with Stan. Afghanistan is the subplot.

Efforts to paint McChrystal as a knuckle-dragging Nazi who hates hippies is a typical liberal defense mechanism. But let's say it's an accurate portrayal. If so, why did McChrystal vote for Obama? Why does he get along so well with Hillary? Aren't they the two leading hate objects of the far right? Surely McChrystal was secretly for McCain/Palin. Why did he think that an Obama administration would pave the way to a Fourth Reich?

Beats me. This country is so fucking crazy that any combination of beliefs and actions makes brutal sense. A perk of aging is being less and less surprised. Some call this cynicism. I prefer experience.

Whether McChrystal stays or goes, eats raw crow or rallies his storm troopers, the Terror Wars continue. The machine keeps running. Personality clashes like this are media sidelights. Page Six for the powerless mass.

ALSO: Friend and elegant carnivore IOZ gets to the heart.

ENCORE: McChrystal out, Petraeus in. Change gets ever more changy.