re: #189 Decatur Deb

“Strike Syria” is not the same thing as “find a solution for Syria”. Unless the President was playing for this all along, which is rather near-fetched, he must stand the resistance of his followers who were anti-war when he was anti-spinach.

I know who I am.

Without pragmatism, which Pres Obama was criticized for early on by ideologues, there could never be any way to try finding a solution to what Syria is doing.

As someone involved in Vietnam protests back in the day, I remember very well some of the left/libertarian leaning contingents criticizing “pragmatism” as something so evil they didn’t want to contemplate it. I never really thought that the anti-war efforts were the only straw that broke the camel’s back on Vietnam. That’s too simplistic, and not true, even as public sentiment gradually became weary of US involvement there.

Idealism is fine but it must be tempered with experience and practicality. Some just don’t have that, or they eschew it, solely in favor of idealism.