THOUGHTS ON JUSTICE AND REVENGE:

Contemplating a “balls[y]” liberal president confidently throwing his weight around in foreign affairs is a strange sensation for conservatives and liberals alike. But it’s an especially welcome sensation for liberals. Admit it, isn’t it a relief not having to come up with a tortuous explanation of how real patriotism is a matter of having the moral fortitude to preside intelligently over the country’s relative decline by “leading from behind.” Yet liberals should be self-conscious enough to admit that the rush of satisfaction they’re getting contemplating Obama’s newfound bellicosity is a guilty pleasure. . . .

Liberals can bask in their newfound admiration for Obama or uphold their vision of the international system. But it’s hard to see how, in good conscience, they can do both of those things.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I can’t believe the same crowd that wanted Abu Ghraib pictures endlessly published find a photo confirming Osama bin Laden’s demise to be possibly inflammatory.

After all the horrors we have had to witness. Unbelievable. Show us.

Indeed. Heck, even false Newsweek stories about Koran-flushing weren’t held back.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ron Radosh: The Left and the Liberals’ Hypocrisy over the Death of Osama Bin Laden.