I remember a co-worker from some years ago, a German chap of a certain age -- born about 1928, I would guess. Let's call him Gunnar.
I got to know Gunnar pretty well. He wasn't a bad fellow. Thoughtful, well-read, enlightened, droll.
It took a long time for the unfortunate subject of Hitler to arise. I avoided it, and Gunnar certainly wasn't any more eager than I was to bring it up.
But one evening, after a beer or two or three, I can't remember how it happened, but the ill-omened name was spoken.
Gunnar submerged himself in his stein for a long minute, and finally observed, when he came up for air, that well, you know, the man wasn't completely bad. He built the Autobahn, after all.
I thought of this recently in connection with my giddy, happy, liberal friends, still all jazzed about Obama, and very peeved at me when I tactlessly mention the ongoing slaughter in Gaza, to which Obama and his entire party have given a very unequivocal green light.
Oh, I know. Obama isn't Hitler. Nothing like. Of course not. Hitler is the gold standard. Nobody is going to take his trophies away from him any time soon -- let's hope.
What interests me the mentality of my thoughtful, well-read, enlightened, droll Obama-ite Gunnars, who recognize, and quietly -- very quietly, perhaps even entirely in the deep quiet of their own minds -- deplore the bestial depravity of Israel, and understand that Obama is right down there with it; but who nevertheless think he's going to build us an Autobahn.
Or something.
Anything, really.
Comments (12)
Obama is to Hitler what Farfegnugen is to the Autobahn.
Posted by AlanSmithee | January 15, 2009 9:55 PM
Posted on January 15, 2009 21:55
Very apt. Only difference is, the Volkswagen guys pretty much stopped killing people after 1945, as far as I know, while Obie is just getting ready to start.
Posted by MJS | January 15, 2009 10:17 PM
Posted on January 15, 2009 22:17
Bestial is right. Today those fascist bastards fired white phosphorous rounds on the UN Relief building in order to create an inextinguishable fire in their food and medicine store houses. How unconscionable can you be? The message? Stop feeding them! They're supposed to die!
Then there is this fucking clown: http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2009/01/but-hes-good-on-health-care-right.html
Posted by dermokrat | January 16, 2009 12:18 AM
Posted on January 16, 2009 00:18
Remember folks, it's all relative!
Posted by sk | January 16, 2009 12:42 AM
Posted on January 16, 2009 00:42
vlad the imp
was a bulwark of christendom
barrack...not so much
Posted by op | January 16, 2009 7:58 AM
Posted on January 16, 2009 07:58
For a change of pace, try arguing that Stalin wasn't all bad, that nationalized production and public works in literacy and medicine brought much of the Soviet Union out of the 14th century, and see what kind of response you get from people.
Posted by Michael Hureaux | January 16, 2009 11:08 AM
Posted on January 16, 2009 11:08
vlad the imp
was a bulwark of christendom
Isn't Obama's Chief of Staff also someone who wants to keep alive the vision of Teddy Herzl, the founder of Zionism who wanted his ideal state to be "a protecting enclave of Europe against Asia, a civilization against Asiatic barbarism"? The methods for keeping this bulwark going aren't all that different from Vlad's slow bloodletting either...
Posted by sk | January 16, 2009 12:32 PM
Posted on January 16, 2009 12:32
He is indeed going to (re)build the autobahn, as autobahns-ueber-alles has always been the lifeblood and the heart's desire of corporate capitalism, in both its fascist and "democratic" flavors.
By my calcs, the US automobile dictatorship eats up roughly 85,000+ lives a year in this land, all without the slightest mention:
40,000+ in crashes (FHTSA reports this every August, whilst folks are on summer vaca)
40,000+ via "crowding-out" of human locomotion (assuming cars explain 10% of the 400,000 annual deaths JAMA finds to be caused by poor diet/lack of exercise)
5,000+ via air pollution exposure (assumes cars responsible for 25% of overall such exposure)
This, of course, is not to mention the system's courting of Carmageddon, in the form of oil war and/or energy-supply collapse.
Posted by Michael Dawson | January 16, 2009 12:46 PM
Posted on January 16, 2009 12:46
Adolf also had the very efficient Reichsbahn railways. AmTrak ain't ever going to reach that level of efficiency with Obie.
Uncle Joe built the Moscow Metro, too.
Posted by JJR | January 16, 2009 6:51 PM
Posted on January 16, 2009 18:51
From his public statements, it doesn't appear he plans to build anything, but rather intends to take more away from us to give to Wall Street. For progressives, though, he doesn't have to do anything but blow smoke. After all, empty rhetoric is what they thrive on.
Posted by Jay Taber | January 16, 2009 7:32 PM
Posted on January 16, 2009 19:32
"After all, empty rhetoric is what they thrive on."
Yawn. Not true and tiresome to boot.
Besides, everyone knows there is no other kind of rhetoric in this land.
Posted by Bee | January 17, 2009 3:28 PM
Posted on January 17, 2009 15:28
I love how pwoggies type out "yawn" every time someone really gets under their already paper-thin skin. Yawn is the new LOL.
Posted by AlanSmithee | January 22, 2009 12:59 PM
Posted on January 22, 2009 12:59