We are still living in Bush the Younger’s America. That hideous little man warped the politics and the political attitudes of this country to such an extent that the arguments taking place at the end of his reign would’ve scarcely seemed possible at the beginning. Advocating torture and unprovoked war became mainstream positions. Wanting to listen to respectable people, be they foreign leaders, scientists or other non-Washington D.C. types, became a snigger worthy position. It was all very odd, but it always came down to a simple, albeit psychotic, idea: that a good enough talking point could alter reality.
No reason to invade a country? Surely we’ll find one when we get there. Supply side economics trashes the federal budget? Not if we say it doesn’t and damn the numbers. I could go on, but it would be a waste. Remember, this was a political force that openly sneered at “discernable reality”. The hold this insane notion has on our politics is waning, but ever so slowly.
Happily, we can see another manifestation of that waning in the recent spat between the Israeli and American governments and nowhere is it made clearer than in this piece Juan Cole wrote for Salon.com. Cole, who dared to stay sane in public during the darkest of the dark years, has experienced plenty of vicious attacks from people who believe in the reality altering power of talking points. This particular dustup is over Cole’s position (a very common one) that the policies of the Israeli government over the last ten years have done very serious damage to Israel’s long term survival prospects.
Those policies, which included ineffectually attacking Gaza and Lebanon, walling up the Palestinians in a squalid ghetto, and planting settlements atop every halfway decent piece of land in the West Bank, were backed to the hilt (and then some) by the Bush Administration. But the days of complete American acquiescence to the most right wing of the Israeli government’s fantasies are over. Not everyone got the memo, however. All the Obama Administration did was ask the Israelis to stop building new settlements, the universally acknowledged first step towards untangling the mess Israel has made for itself over the last forty years, and a minor shitstorm erupted.
Cole’s piece, which is worth reading in full, is about his own little part in that shitstorm, and it concludes with a simple question that the talking point believers cannot answer:
Does Goldberg have a plan “B”? Because his two-state solution is so 1993. The problem is, it is almost certainly past the point where any such thing is possible, given the size and extent of Israeli colonies in the Palestinian West Bank. Goldberg admits that the only two likely outcomes of the current policies of Binyamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman are Apartheid or a one-state solution.
Would Cpl. Goldberg like to specify which he would prefer, in case it comes to that (as it likely already has)?
That’s the crux of this particular issue, but it illustrates a broader trend as well. The days of magical thinking as policy are passing. It’s too pervasive and seductive a philosophy to go out of style all at once, but if you want to participate in adult discussions, denying reality isn’t something you can do scot free any longer.
