Talk Left, Center, Right, Anywhere But Where It Counts

Over at TalkLeft, one of my favorite non-loony left sites, MaxSpeak opines:

“What TV should be doing on Sept. 11, in my opinion, is spending a day reflecting on how we still haven’t caught the evil monster behind the tragedy. I would replay over and over again President Bush’s fight talks about how we were going to get bin Laden dead or alive and other stirring speeches from his administration about the game plan for bringing him to justice.”

“Also needed is penetrating analysis on why, after spending billions, we have hundreds of people in jail here, but bin Laden and his al-Qaida cohorts presumably are alive and well somewhere in 60 countries.”

My reply:

Osama, like Tojo in 1942, is a side issue.

Yes, we thought Tojo would make the fine star of a funeral coming soon to a theater near you, but the real enemy was the Japanese leadership culture of militarism combined with imperial divinity.

So it is with bin Laden. He is a major symptom of a disease in the Arab heart of Islam — but he is still just a symptom.

Whether Osama is alive or dead, the real enemy is both broader-based and extremely devout — just as it was with Japan after Pearl Harbor.

If, in 1943, an assassin’s bullet had found it’s way into Tojo’s brain. . .

. . . well, we’d have felt a little vindicated, but there would still have been most of China, the Philipines, and Indonesia to liberate.

Jebus. Lefties are supposed to be at least somewhat fond of Marx