Obama seems to think it important that Putin be cast as a 19th or 20th Century man. By default, I suppose, Obama becomes a modern, 21st Century man. It is reminiscent of those angry college arguments where the guy who thinks he's an intellectual is dismissive of the athlete, as he treads dangerously on the athlete's physical territory, having brought a book on Keats to a fistfight. But the athlete usually always restrains himself and the intellectual gets to leave the scene with his arrogance intact.
Obama, of course, is wrong on almost all counts. Putin is not a 19th Century man, he is a killer for all seasons. He is limited not by his outlook but rather by his armaments. He is not lacking in modern philosophy, he is lacking in modern weapons. He sees himself a representative of a great nation slighted by the history his philosophers told him was its friend. But he is intent on being the point of that nation's recovery as it reclaims its destiny.
Obama, of course, is wrong on almost all counts. Putin is not a 19th Century man, he is a killer for all seasons. He is limited not by his outlook but rather by his armaments. He is not lacking in modern philosophy, he is lacking in modern weapons. He sees himself a representative of a great nation slighted by the history his philosophers told him was its friend. But he is intent on being the point of that nation's recovery as it reclaims its destiny.
Poor Obama has none of that barbaric burden. Or its mission. Or its reason for being.
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