One score years
Nov. 9th, 2009 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
radarriderTwenty years ago today, the most blatantly visible symbol of Soviet oppression ceased to be. Though it remained physically present for a while afterward, on that day it became nothing more than a mass of reinforced concrete whose original purpose no longer existed. The Berlin Wall fell, heralding the collapse of the Soviet Union that would come the following year.
Many have criticized the current president for not attending the celebration of the passage of two decades since that historic day. I can't say what his real reasons are though if the excuse is made that it's a "scheduling conflict" I call BS because this was planned well in advance. But, perhaps, he has pressing matters to attend to that actually do preclude his attending. I cannot judge one way or the other.
But even if he did attend, he would do so in the shadow of the man who did more to destroy that wall than any other. Perhaps he isn't there because he knows that he would be compared with that man, and he would inevitably be found wanting.
Many have criticized the current president for not attending the celebration of the passage of two decades since that historic day. I can't say what his real reasons are though if the excuse is made that it's a "scheduling conflict" I call BS because this was planned well in advance. But, perhaps, he has pressing matters to attend to that actually do preclude his attending. I cannot judge one way or the other.
But even if he did attend, he would do so in the shadow of the man who did more to destroy that wall than any other. Perhaps he isn't there because he knows that he would be compared with that man, and he would inevitably be found wanting.
I don't think Obama fears the reputation of Ronald Reagan. I think Obama has been kept careful track of by the world... and may well be found wanting *on his own merits*.
See also just-posted rant of my own.