Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Winnie the Pooh on the train

Obama's would-be National Security Adviser has cited Winnie the Pooh as a foreign policy influence. I like thinking outside the box, but this won't help Obama's naive image. Comments like this inevitably will surface:
Winnie the Pooh is not the character to emulate if you want a foreign policy that’s more stable than a stuffed bear tied to a helium balloon.
But Danzig's comments about fundamentalists lending themselves to extremism through the very, very low opportunity cost in their lives (read: no education, no job, no skills, no hope) makes sense. George Schultz (infamous neo-con, hisssss) made the same point at a speech I heard in Tokyo a few years ago. Most Americans just don't realize how cheap life is in much of the world.

Even relatively well-off Brits stewing in pubs get this feeling, and they're Brits (...stewing in pubs):
I'm gonna get me a motor car
Maybe a Jaguar
Maybe a plane or a day of fame
I'm gonna be a millionaire
So can you take me there?
Wanna be wild 'cos my life's so tame

Here am I, going nowhere on a train
Here am I, growing older in the rain
Poor Winnie.

3 comments:

MrsCooper said...

Amongst all the characters in "Winnie the Pooh", my favourite one is Tigger, even though I have no idea anything about it.

Is Danzig on the board of Disney?

C-Belle said...

oh good grief, just followed your link to read the article.

"...in that enchanted place on
the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be
playing."

I'm trying to imagine Obama, skipping. I can't readily see that, but I CAN see him with his hand in the honey jar.

Bartleby said...

I don't know if Danzig is on the Disney board; if he is, he will probably be leaving soon... Maybe McCain should tap Tigger as his mascot so people have a true choice.

Obama's hand in the honey jar... That is an easy and resonant image (as it is for many of them, alas).