Conditional Shuffle

One tragic consequence of the Peretz/MLK post yesterday was that it put me in the awkward position of defending Tom Friedman. Fortunately, in today's offering America's most influential foreign affairs journalist is still playing what Greg Sargent has dubbed the "conditional shuffle" responding to Bush's proposals by listing scenarios under which he could support them rather than facing the reality that Bush isn't going to do any of these things. The trouble, obviously, is that were Friedman to acknowledge that Bush won't, say, hold a regional peace conference, he'd have to admit that the right thing to do in Iraq is withdraw.

And, of course, once you don the Moustache of Understanding you'll realize that in order to be a Serious Person it's important that you never agree with liberals.

1/26/07 9:56AM del.icio.us this incoming links

Comments

Friedman's listing of conditions under which he could support Bush's plans reminds me rather of Friedman's stance on Iraq, in which he spent the run-up explaining why the war would be grand if it were done for the right reasons and in the right way, then after it was clear the war wasn't and wouldn't be done in the way he hoped, Freidman spent three years essentially writing dispatches from his imaginary world in which it had been done his way, and the message in each of these dispatches was that, once everyone else joined him in this lovely world, everything would turn out all right.

Posted by: Warren Terra on January 26, 2007 10:15 AM

Why does anyone read Friedman anymore? His credibility matches that of Tim Russert at this point. Speaking of Russert, how long before he is forced to resign? Or will he choose to continually debase himself in light of the recent relevations at the Libby trial?

Posted by: Ghost of Tom Joad on January 26, 2007 10:22 AM

"And, of course, once you don the Moustache of Understanding you'll realize that in order to be a Serious Person it's important that you never agree with liberals."

While Friedman has obviously become a self-parody post-9/11, I don't think that's an accurate explanation of why.

Warren Terra's above explanation seems far closer to the truth.

Posted by: Petey on January 26, 2007 10:24 AM

One tragic consequence of the Peretz/MLK post yesterday was that it put me in the awkward position of defending Tom Friedman.

Really, there was no need to defend Friedman. Peretz thought the 'Stache had written a bad column, and he was right--but not for the reasons he thought.

Posted by: dj moonbat on January 26, 2007 10:31 AM

I breathlessly await Oracle Friedman's next dispatch from his lovely world. It's less itchy than growing a Moustache of Understanding.

Posted by: whack on January 26, 2007 10:32 AM

Moustache of Understanding

That phrase is one of the great additions to world culture.

Posted by: SomeCallMeTim on January 26, 2007 10:54 AM

Does this have any relationship to the Super Bowl Shuffle?

Posted by: JP on January 26, 2007 10:58 AM

"That phrase is one of the great additions to world culture."

Indeed. For the newbies in the crowd, here ya' go.

Posted by: Petey on January 26, 2007 11:00 AM

I prefer the simplest explanation -- Tom hasn't a clue what he is talking about.

How many people here have worked with or for someone who had no qualifications to hold their positions? Rather they were hired or promoted based on connections, networking skills, or just because they were well liked by someone higher up in the food chain. What makes someone in the press any different?

Tom has been over his head for some time -- while he can come across as knowledgeable when blowing smoke out of his ass about cell phone coverage in Bangladesh or some such, when he takes on weightier issues it is clear that he is a maroon.

Posted by: Gatchaman on January 26, 2007 11:10 AM

I think the biggest reason Friedman (and many other hawkish liberals) endorsed the war in Iraq was that they were so emotionally comitted to the Middle East, and so frustrated by years of no progress on any front, that they wanted to do something radical to change things.

Unfortunately, Friedman has let this emotional attachment severely cloud his thinking. A few years ago, he proposed that the solution to the Israeli Palestinian problem would entail putting U.S. peacekeepers in the West Bank. Anyone who could suggest such a thing is clearly so overly attached to the idea that we have to make progress, that he has lost control of his senses.

Another example is a few days ago, when he described the 9/11 attack as "the distilled essence of our previous support for repressive regimes in the region, brought home to roost", or some such nonsense. Its a laughable idea, that a few hijackers taking advantage of a flaw in our airline security would have cosmic overtones like these.

Posted by: Jim W on January 26, 2007 11:12 AM

Somebody should introduce Tom Friedman and Marty Peretz to Mubarak Awad.

He's an advocate for non-violent protest and resistance to Israel for Palestinains. And he was deported from Israel in 1988 by then Prime Minister Ytzhak Shamir.

The reason was because he wanted the Palestinians to go on a massive non-violent work-stoppage and to take to the streets in large non-violent protest.

Oh, that's not what they meant? You mean a non-vioent Gandhi/MLK figure for the Palestinians vs the Israelis doesn't count?

OK. Gotcha.

Posted by: Hesiod on January 26, 2007 11:28 AM

Friedman says:
"He had a chance for a “Nixon to China” moment — as the Texas oilman who leads us into a greener future. Instead, he gave us “Nixon to New Mexico” — right direction, but not nearly far enough."

Sorry to be pedantic but isn't DC to New Mexico exactly the wrong direction to China. Flights to China from the East Coast never go that way.

Posted by: pt on January 26, 2007 11:37 AM

Freidman and Peretz should also familiarize themselves with the writings of Jawdat Said.

Posted by: Hesiod on January 26, 2007 11:41 AM

What do Friedman and Peretz have in common?

They both live in their billionare wives mansions.

Posted by: james on January 26, 2007 12:58 PM

pt, you remind me of Taibbi's awesome takedown of TF:

Thomas Friedman does not get these things right even by accident. It's not that he occasionally screws up and fails to make his metaphors and images agree. It's that he always screws it up. He has an anti-ear, and it's absolutely infallible; he is a Joyce or a Flaubert in reverse, incapable of rendering even the smallest details without genius.

I suppose this is petty compared to the great details of policy, but I can't bring myself to care about what Friedman thinks about policy.

Posted by: Matt Weiner on January 26, 2007 01:22 PM

Matt,

I possess both the "Baldness of Understanding" and the "Belly of Understanding." Does that give me enhanced credibilty?

Posted by: global yokel on January 26, 2007 04:45 PM

My take on Friedman is that he writes from a perspective calculated to appeal to a broad range of readers, thus he manages to talk out of both sides of his mouth and never says anything with conviction. Job security is his #1 priority.

Posted by: swamp thing on January 26, 2007 04:49 PM

I've become a huge fan of this blog over the last few months. Before now my daily diet consisted of AndrewSullivan.com, Kausfiles, and TalkingPointsMemo (with weekly visits to Brad Delong and Instapundit), but Matt has now become my first read every morning. Not only do his politics feel closer to my own of any major blogger, but I share his passion for both sports and The Wire.

That said, I hate with a passion his Friedman bashing. And frankly, I'm not even sure what it's based on. I think Friedman's columns over the last four years stand up as well or better than any other commentator:
- While supportive of the idea of invasion, not a bit of his case was based on WMD (which he explicitly thought was a non-issue).
- And he consistently made the point (before the war) that the worst thing we could do to invade with insufficient forces or allied support (which was a clear call for a different policy from the Bush Administration).
- And from the first week after the occupation of Baghdad, he has been an advocate for more troops and reconstruction resources and a constant critic of the Bush's Administration's failures and incompetent.

Now perhaps Friedman was wrong and even a competently run and fully supported invasion was doomed to fail. But even Matt admits that that is an argument worthy of debate.

So I think the mockery is badly misplaced. And this last critique is just silly. Matt writes: "The trouble, obviously, is that were Friedman to acknowledge that Bush won't, say, hold a regional peace conference, he'd have to admit that the right thing to do in Iraq is withdraw."

But, of course, Friedman has said just that:

At the end of November he wrote:
"Either we just get out of Iraq in a phased withdrawal over 10 months, and try to stabilize it some other way, or we accept the fact that the only way it will not be a failed state is if we start over and rebuild it from the ground up, which would take 10 years. This would require reinvading Iraq, with at least 150,000 more troops"

In other words, a call for a phased withdrawal over 10 months and a call to try to stabilize in Iraq in other ways.

And then last week in his first column after surge speech, he wrote:
"You need to tell Iraqis that by calling for a surge in troops you’re giving them one last chance to reconcile, otherwise we’re gone by Dec. 1." followed by today's column calling for an effort to "Let the troop surge be accompanied and reinforced by what the Baker-Hamilton commission proposed: a regional conference that puts Syria, Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia around a table with Iraqis to try to stabilize the place."

In short, a call for an effort to stabilize Iraq through a regional peace conference, while setting a firm date for withdrawal in 10 months.

Moreover, the idea that somehow Friedman has the wool being pulled over his eyes by the Bush Administration is ridiculous. He clearly doesn't believe that Bush is going to take his advice. He just doesn't see that as a reason not to set out what he thinks the right policy is.

So lay off the Friedman bashing Matt. It makes you look as foolish and petty as the Krugman bashing of Sullivan and Kaus used to make them. Krugman and Friedman are by far the best columnists writing today. And those who wear hoodies should think carefully before bashing the moustache (no matter how ridiculous it is).

Posted by: Gordon S. on January 26, 2007 09:58 PM

Looking at your list of blogs, you really need to expand your list if you truly expect to be really informed

Posted by: grandpa john on January 27, 2007 10:10 AM

So Gordon, if I understand you correctly, according to Friedman, at any point in time the answer in Iraq is plan a phased withdrawal to be completed within 10 months of that point in time.

That about sum it up?

Assuming we follow this course, in the year 2200 we'll be only 10 months away from victory!

Posted by: Davebo on January 27, 2007 02:57 PM

Once you don the Moustache of Understanding ...

I love that. Best line for a long time.

It is exactly like the "Great Svengarlic" from the Three Stooges.

Posted by: Douglas Watts on January 30, 2007 02:37 AM

While supportive of the idea of invasion, not a bit of Friedman's case was based on WMD (which he explicitly thought was a non-issue). -- Gordon.
---

Okay, except for that little detail that invading Iraq for any reason other than WMDs was a pre-emptive, unjustified invasion of a sovereign nation in violation of International law, I guess Friedman was right.

After all he's just a columnist. He can recommend the U.S. invading any country at any time for any reason cuz ... he's just a columnist. Who listens to columnists anyways? So why should we care if they consistently lie, or are consistently wrong, or consistently present things over and over that have been proven wrong over and over?

Let's leave the poor guy alone ! He's struggling to feed a family !

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