The Ultimate Thomas Friedman Lede

I've been thinking about President Obama's foreign policy lately, but first, a golf tip:

Fans of Friedman's "narrative" narrative sloganeering will not be disappointed, either:

I continue to believe that the most important foreign policy issue America faces today is its ability to successfully engage in nation building — nation building at home.

Comments

[Xeones]

The world may not, after all, be flat, but Thomas Friedman's EEG surely is.

[The Real Dan T.]

Not bad, not bad.

[sage]

Sure like that alt text. His work is from the classics of teh suck.

[Rich]

Maureen Dowd is off today.

She's not the only one.

[Ragin Cajun]

Only today?

[Forbes]

Yes, yes, you read Friedman so that we don't have to. Do you get combat pay?

I wonder if Friedman imagines so-called nation building to be anything like that as in Iraq, Afghanistan, or the Balkans--you know with a military occupation, no-fly zones, and drone attacks on adversaries?

[?]

Your anti-Chinese racism is noted, Welch.

You don't have to be Machiavelli to believe that the leaders of Iran and Venezuela shared the barely disguised Republican hope that health care would fail

But you do have to not be Machiavelli. He wasn't insane. Or fat.

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, I'll just say it now: I hoped with extra hopefulness that the bill would die a horrid death, taking down innocent bills in its wake, if necessary.

I'm all for real reform of the medical services and health insurance industries, but my reform involves deregulation and stuff not even remotely conceived of.

So screw off, Tom.

[Jim Lowney]

Matt,
I knew that would get you when I read it this morning.

[Matt Welch]

Hi Jim!

[John]

I am just speechless. How could we get to a point where an educated person with a weekly column in the NYT would be so stupid as to believe that our enemies would be emboldened by the failure of health care reform.

[SugarFree]

A disgrace to mustaches everywhere.

[sage]

No one ever said it better than Osama bin Laden: "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse."

I had no idea a dog turd could be both gold-plated and candy-coated.

[wesley]

This is my favorite part of the column. It's so awesomely appropriate, for many reasons, that Friedman thinks Osama bin Laden -- the most american-hating human in the world -- has best said this very american thing. Plus it's not even well said. (I wonder if he actually said it like this, or if in Arabic or Farsi it's more proverbial.)

[sage]

[Our allies] know that a weak America is like a world with no health insurance ? and a lot of pre-existing conditions.

But unfortunately no death panels for crap like this.

[P Brooks]

I'll say it:

SHUT THE FUCK UP, THOMAS FRIEDMAN

[Dagny T.]

I have a friend who likes to talk armchair economics, and is somehow under the impression that Thomas Friedman is a really awesome resource for information and opinions. He actually thinks Friedman is pro-economic freedom. Does not compute.

[Bob_R]

"Ultimate," I wish.

[Joe Klein]

Careful -- you're treading dangerously close to committing sedition.

[Weak Stomachs of America]

Please do not run that image of Friedman's face-beaver ever again. Thank you.

[Ragin Cajun]

That's Tom Friedman? I thought it was Maureen Dowd.

[SugarFree]

Y'all leave Tom-Tom The Cunt-Face Boy alone. He's got a performance at the state fair tonight, and I don't want him all riled up.

[Freaks]

We accept him! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble!

[Franklin Harris]

Thanks, Matt. Until you posted Thomas Friedman's EXTREME CLOSEUP, I hadn't wanted to punch anyone all morning. I thought something was wrong with me.

[Ken Shultz]

"I continue to believe that the most important foreign policy issue America faces today is its ability to successfully engage in nation building ? nation building at home."

Is there any further evidence needed that George W. Bush was a liberal president in the mold of Lyndon B. Johnson?

I'd gotten to the point where I just ignored Friedman, though it was bad enough listening to him talk about what he wanted to do to somebody else--now he wants to remake us into his image of a nation?

Despicable. I am willing to make zero sacrifices for this man's vision of a nation.

What a jackass!

[John Thacker]

Is there any further evidence needed that George W. Bush was a liberal president in the mold of Lyndon B. JohnsonRichard M. Nixon?

Fixed it for you.

[Ken Shultz]

I'm sorry, but if expanding the Great Society via the Medicare drug benefit and trying to remake Iraqi culture like Johnson tried to do with his double-down on Vietnam doesn't make George Dubya like Lyndon Johnson--both from Texas mind you?

Then he Bush wasn't like any other president either. He was a damn Southern Democrat, just like all the others were before Reagan brought those jokers into his coalition.

[MattXIV]

Isn't this a revival of the Bush-era argument that not agreeing with the president emboldens our enemies, but with a non-foreign policy issue substituted for a foreign policy one, somehow making it even more idiotic?

[theOneState]

So a European diplomat congratulated a US general on our passage of health care reform. Non-Americans are annoying like that. And some of our public servants are proud to be treated like little children who have just used the potty and remembered to flush. "Good job, America. Here's a bon-bon for you."

But when the diplomat said "America is back!", Gen. Jones should have slapped him. Unless he's a girl. In which case Gen. Jones should have licked his pinky and stuck it in her ear and whispered "We were never gone, bitch!".

Seriously, that level of public condescension should not go unchallenged.

[Thomas Friedman]

I am the walrus.

[Ken Shultz]

And the jackass.

[Thomas Friedman]

Surf and turf!

[Brandon]

Probably the only thing I agree with Friedman on is free trade. He supported the War in Iraq, writes for the NYTimes AND won't get off his obsession with green energy and "transitioning" to a so-called "green economy."

Maybe I should send him a copy of Robert Bryce's "Gusher of Lies" for his birthday?