More Civil Than Thou
Gail-T asks if Obama would have shaken Mussolini's or Stalin's hand. Well, we do know that Churchill did. He wrote in 1927, "I could not help being charmed by Signor Mussolini's gentle and simple bearing, and by his calm, detached poise in spite of so many burdens and dangers." Many Depression-era Americans admired the Italian's effectiveness. As for Stalin, wasn't he Churchill's and America's invaluable ally in opposing Hitler...?
Hawks have squawked about Obama's humble international tone, which did seem like a good idea when the previous president advocated it. One Hoover Institution fellow railed against Obama's conciliatory tone in last week's Wall Street Journal; but I soon found another article by this scholar just a year ago in which he preached the need for America to be more gracious and friendly to other nations.
I've left a message for him asking what he really believes and when he believes it. But I suspect such persons ridicule civility only when it's modeled by someone they don't like. This seems as much about envy as about geopolitical strategy.
And Hitler had kids, but that doesn't mean that most people would call him a family man. If Churchill were alive today, I'd probably have the same reaction. Russia may have been our WWII ally, but that doesn't excuse the fact that Stalin basically rose (or is it sank?) to the ranks of a mass murderer.