But I would like to make a point regarding the article that I don't think anyone has commented on yet. Actually, I'd like to ask a series of questions that will lead, finally, to my point. So here goes: who vetted this thing? And how did it get published in a journal like Foreign Affairs without someone from his campaign staff doing any editing or fact checking? And does the fact that it wasn't subjected to scrutiny by those closest to Huckabee reveal anything about the man? Here are the first two sentences of the article:
The United States, as the world's only superpower, is less vulnerable to military defeat. But it is more vulnerable to the animosity of other countries.
What does that mean? I think the first sentence means that as the sole superpower we are less vulnerable to military defeat than we would be if there were other superpowers around who could challenge us. I think the second sentence means that since we are the world's only superpower, it is inevitable that the jealousies and insecurities of smaller, weaker countries will be directed mainly at us. But I'm not sure. Both these sentences could be parsed to mean something entirely different. Didn't anyone on the Huckabee campaign find these opening lines as linguistically jarring as I and many others did? Was there no one around to say, "Gee, Huck, I'm not sure these are complete sentences. You haven't finished your thought here. Perhaps a qualifying clause should be added to each sentence to clarify their meaning"? It's lazy writing and lazy thinking, but apparently no one on the Huckabee team noticed.
Also, as to the Sun Tzu/Michael Corleone confusion: was no one on the Huckabee team familiar with The Godfather? Okay, Huckabee had been a Baptist minister, and then a governor for twelve years. He was a busy man who probably had little time to watch movies and, if he did, the saga of the Corleone family was probably not his cup of tea. But did no one on his staff know that "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer" was uttered by Michael Corleone? As soon as I read it I shook my head and conjured images of the scene in Part II where he said it. It's the scene in Frank Pentangeli's home, formerly the house Michael grew up in. Michael has visited Frankie Five Angels to tell him of the attempt on his life, "IN MY HOME! IN MY BEDROOM WHERE MY WIFE SLEEPS. WHERE MY CHILDREN COME TO PLAY WITH THEIR TOYS" and to demand that Frankie "settle these affairs with the Rosato brothers" because "it was Hyman Roth who tried to have me killed. I know it was him". When Pentangeli tells Michael we should kill them all now, while we still have the muscle, Michael rises from his chair and goes into his soliloquy. He tells Frankie that he was very happy that the house never went to strangers. "First Clemenza took it over, now you" and how when he was a child they had to be very quiet when we played near this room and how his father "taught me many things when I was growing up. He taught me in this room. He taught me 'keep your friends close, but your enemies closer'. Now if Hyman Roth sees that I intervened in this affair in the Rosato brothers favor, he'll think that my relationship with him is still good. Capite? That's what I want him to think. I want him completely relaxed and comfortable in our relationship. Then I can find out who the traitor in my family is." (Okay, so I've seen the movie a few times.) Anyhow, back to Huckabee. No one on the staff recognized the quote? Did no one go back to Sun Tzu to verify it? Did no one know how to use Google?
Finally, the nonsense comparing the United States to some braggart high school student - did no one around Huckabee realize that this would open him up to charges of naivete and simple-mindedness? Did anyone urge him not to use such analogies because they are specious and juvenile? Again, I'm not talking about the content of what Huckabee's saying but of the way he says it. As James Lileks, the funniest man on the Internet, says:
...the last time I heard such hackneyed metaphors deployed to describe international relations I was in a dorm room, and everyone was convinced the pizza should have been here because we ordered like six hours ago even though it was only 15 minutes. And then the pizza arrived 15 minutes later, and everyone was like, whoa: pizza!
So, what's my point? My point is that, given the evidence of the Foreign Affairs article, either:
1. Huckabee has surrounded himself with people as dim, naive, and insular as he himself is, or:
2. Huckabee has surrounded himself with yes-men and sycophants who will not risk upsetting the man lest they be subjected to his famous prickliness.
If either of these conclusions is true, it would be disastrous for a candidate for President in the general election. If by some miracle said candidate was actually elected, it would be even more disastrous in a President. Please do not nominate this man.
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