Things Always Go Boom Eventually....

I don't know if that's an exact "Ivonova Quote", but it works.

O.S. Card has a new essay out. This time he's skewering Obama about how he should have handled Bush's "appeasement" speech. Or at least he starts out that way.

What he has to say there isn't anything major. My thoughts, pretty much, only more eloquently (and lengthily) put. But then he segues into what Obama's response means for the future: Obama really IS a believer in appeasement, and that spells trouble.

He then dives into a little bit of political history on the election between Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan during the Civil War:

Lincoln, facing probably defeat in the election, called together his cabinet and handed them a sealed memorandum, which he directed that they should sign as witnesses, so that when, after the election, the document was opened, they would know that this was what Lincoln had written at that time.

Here's what was in that memo:

"This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probably [sic] that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so cooperate with the Government President elect, as to save the Union between the Election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards."

Lincoln's point was plain: McClellan had so bound himself to the promise to declare defeat by negotiating an end to the war that Lincoln had to make sure that between the election and the inauguration the war was won so there would be nothing for his successor to negotiate.

Furthermore, it is an obvious historical fact, supported by evidence from the South, that because McClellan was running with the pledge to let the South have its victory in the Civil War after all, the Confederacy based all its hopes on prolonging the war long enough for McClellan to become president.

In short, Card is suggesting that Bush is preparing to make a decisive blow against Iran in case Obama or Hillary get elected and mess everything up. And if he's not planning that, he should.

Meanwhile, Obama, by his own admission, is precisely the kind of candidate who makes the writing of such a memo necessary.

That's scary stuff. Especially in light of a buildup of forces in the region. It could be nothing. It could be a big something. It could be...

[music cue]...the end of the world as we know it! [/music cue]

Okay, that said, I don't know whether to hope Card is right or wrong on this one. I do find myself hoping that Obama won't win so we don't have to find out right away.