I'm hoping to dramatically scale back the amount of time I spend writing about former President Bush's Minister of Propaganda Peter Wehner. But, in the meantime, I was struck by his prediction of vengeance against President Obama for releasing memos about American use of torture:
We also need some Republicans leaders who have the courage and wisdom to push back against the mob. President Obama—the post-partisan, uniquely unifying, let’s-look-forward-and-not-backward candidate of hope and change—has detonated a debate he may well lose control over and which may prove to be deeply divisive and embittering for America. More importantly, he has taken a series of steps that, particularly as it relates to our intelligence agencies and their capacity to protect Americans from mass death, he, and his countrymen, may well come to regret. We can hope and pray a future attack doesn’t happen—but there is reason to fear it might.
We have seen how quickly public opinion and congressional opinion can change (witness where we were in early 2002, when key members of Congress, including Democrats, signed off on enhanced interrogation techniques and worried that waterboarding was not an aggressive enough tactic v. where we are today). It can change again. And actions that are being applauded now will be viewed as reckless and worse later.
The whirligig of time brings in his revenges.
Is there any way to read thisother than as a prediction that terrorists will attack the U.S. again, and conservatives will blame Obama's anti-torture policies, causing the public to turn on him? Wehner has the requisite disclaimer that he hopes and prays this doesn't happen, but the rest of the post sure makes it sound like Wehner is waiting for terrorists to vindicate him.
--Jonathan Chait