The Patriot Post® · Rebutting Obama's 'Wrong Side of History' Narrative

Mona Charen: “‘History’ is not an actor with a point of view and a direction. You cannot be on its ‘wrong’ side. Progressives tend to believe that the world is evolving, through some unseen but inexorable force, toward greater peace, equality, prosperity and justice. The great task for a leader of the United States, Obama appears to believe, is to get out of history’s way. That’s why it’s a good idea to reduce our army to its smallest size since 1940, and to reduce the Marines by 8 percent. … In Obama’s telling, history is making American might unnecessary because the ‘tide of war is receding.’ Others believe that wars are won or lost. They don’t ebb and flow like oceans. Sadly for the president and the country he leads, his own over-eagerness to disengage from global responsibilities and to back away from military commitments has stimulated just the sort of forces he describes as retrograde.”

Jonah Goldberg: “The [ISIL] jihadists are building something. They call it the Caliphate, and in a remarkably short amount of time they’ve made enormous progress. If I had to bet, I’d guess that they will ultimately fail, but it will be because someone actually takes the initiative and destroys – as in kills – those trying to build it. Until that happens, there will be more beheadings, more enslaved girls, more mass graves. Obama has been very slow to learn this lesson. … [T]here’s a deep-seated faith within progressivism that holds that the mere passage of time drives moral evolution. As if simply tearing pages from your calendar improves the world. It is as faith-based as saying evil will not stand because God will not let it, and far, far less effective at rallying men of goodwill to fight. No doubt some people will face death to defend an arbitrary date, but not many.”