The Enemy Of The Good

Posted on 02/27/2009 at 12:04 pm by Bob Cesca

by Lee Stranahan

Voltaire’s quote “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” is one of my favorites and as I’m watching President Obama’s speech about his new strategy for Iraq, the President himself just referenced it, saying essentially that we can’t wait until we have no enemies in Iraq to withdraw.

That idea – that effective action, while not perfect, is better than no action or futile action – is really the touchstone for the entire Obama political philosophy that I admire so much. It’s one of the things that I think bugs Obama’s critics on both the left and right. We’re seeing the Republican crash on the rocks of their own ‘perfect’ ideology right now.

And this Iraq speech is just a great example of how grateful we should all be every day that this man and not Bush or McCain is our President. He’s getting SO much completely right on Iraq, balancing he safety of our troops, the future of the Iraqi people, and the stature of the United States.

UPDATE: That speech was really breathtaking. If there’s any doubt in anyone’s mind about what a HUGE change Obama is from Bush, this slams that argument shut.

And the spin has aleady started on the cable news – “Obama opposed the surge.” No. the surge was a tactic, not a strategy. The Bush strategy was endless war and US forces there forever. The tactic of the surge didn’t change that strategy…and was used as a stalling tactic to bolster public opinion.

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  • http://www.gravesdig.blogspot.com David

    Lee,I agree with you on this. I keep getting the feeling that critics on the left are so used to not being able to trust anything the President does that they get scared anytime something isn’t framed perfectly for their viewpoint. President Obama has been delivering change since Jan. 20th.Lastly, specifically in regards to the slower withdrawal timtable; the Obama Administration has consistently released lowered expectations so as not to be stuck without an ability to change their policy. While I believe we should bring all the troops home, I admit that I do not know all the details about the status of the occupation and that he has not guaranteed 50,000 troops still there, he’s just left it open to be able to adapt to evolving situations.

  • http://www.southofstrange.com Matt Osborne

    Perspective. The man has a great sense of perspective.

  • avkodoll

    Every time I hear President Obama speak, I just feel safer. It reinforces my belief that things can and will get better. And every time I even think about how things would be had McCain won, I feel physically ill! Like I’d been feeling for the 8 years prior to this January 20th.Re the surge, I think it’s been pretty well established that it was the awakening rather than the surge, that was the most responsible for helping turn down the violence in Iraq. No doubt the surge did help some, but it was NOT the huge success that the Righties would have people believe, and I’m totally tired of hearing them try to make people think it was.