In fairness, I doubt Barack Obama and John Kerry have Marx or Hegel on the brain when they prattle on about the right and wrong sides of history. They more properly belong in what some call the Whig school of history, coined in 1931 by historian Herbert Butterfield. The Whiggish tendency in history says that the world progresses toward the inevitable victory of liberal democracy and social enlightenment. Again, I doubt Obama and Kerry have ever cracked the spine of Butterfields book. Still, this administration has used the wrong side of history phrase more than any I can remember. They particularly like to use it in foreign policy. In his first inaugural, Obama declared, To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. Ever since, whenever things havent gone his way on the international scene -- i.e., on days that end with a y -- he or his spokespeople have wagged their fingers from the right side of history. Lately, Obama and Kerry have been talking a lot about how Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is on the wrong side of history. Before that, Obama announced that Putin was on the wrong side of history for supporting the Assad regime in Syria. He also said that Assad himself was on the wrong side of history
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:38:46 +0000
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