"Real Men"
Real men are aggressive.Real men don’t care what others think. Machiavelli said for a prince it is better to be feared than to be loved. For much of his presidency, most of the world feared George W. Bush. For a brief, shining moment after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, America’s enemies feared Bush, while almost all the rest of the world loved him. That is the perfect situation for any US president. It can’t be sustained, of course, and Bush squandered the love part of the equation much more quickly and much more comprehensively than he should have. But he never lost the fear bit. Here’s my worry about Obama. Lots of people love him and he is indeed very lovable. But I wonder if anyone at all, anywhere in the world, really fears him. Let’s move forward a bit from Machiavelli for our strategic guidance. Let’s refer instead to the great classic of American strategic pedagogy, Happy Days. Happy Days pivoted around the friendship between two very different American teenagers, Richie Cunningham and Fonzie Fonzarelli. Richie was clean-cut, wholesome, an absolute goody-goody, and everybody loved him. Fonzie, especially in the early series, was a tough nut. Greased-back hair, always astride his outlaw motorbike, decked out in Marlon Brando T-shirt, Fonzie inspired fear and envy in men, and swoons among the gals. Everyone was frightened of Fonzie. He could banish bad guys with a look. In one episode, Fonzie tried to teach Richie his style. Richie practised the grimaces, the flexes, the stares, but alas the bad guys were not impressed and certainly not deterred. In the midst of a desperate scrape, Richie turned to Fonzie imploringly and asked: Why are my deadly looks, threatening flexes and strategic grimaces having no effect? Oh yeah, Fonzie replied, I forgot to tell you. For all that to work, once in your life you have to have hit someone. You cannot imagine a deeper strategic insight. At some point, Obama is going to have to do something seriously unpleasant to someone. —Greg Sheridan, “Lots of People Love Obama, but Does Anyone in the World Really Fear Him?”, RealClearPolitics, Sept. 24, 2009 (available at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/09/24/waiting_for_a_fonzie_moment_in_obamas_richie_cunningham_presidency.html), via John Aravois, “More Fonzie, Less Richie,” AMERICAblog, Sept. 25, 2009 (available at http://www.americablog.com/2009/09/more-fonzie-less-richie.html).

Real men are aggressive.
Real men don’t care what others think.

Machiavelli said for a prince it is better to be feared than to be loved.

For much of his presidency, most of the world feared George W. Bush. For a brief, shining moment after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, America’s enemies feared Bush, while almost all the rest of the world loved him.

That is the perfect situation for any US president. It can’t be sustained, of course, and Bush squandered the love part of the equation much more quickly and much more comprehensively than he should have. But he never lost the fear bit.

Here’s my worry about Obama. Lots of people love him and he is indeed very lovable. But I wonder if anyone at all, anywhere in the world, really fears him.

Let’s move forward a bit from Machiavelli for our strategic guidance. Let’s refer instead to the great classic of American strategic pedagogy, Happy Days.

Happy Days pivoted around the friendship between two very different American teenagers, Richie Cunningham and Fonzie Fonzarelli.

Richie was clean-cut, wholesome, an absolute goody-goody, and everybody loved him. Fonzie, especially in the early series, was a tough nut. Greased-back hair, always astride his outlaw motorbike, decked out in Marlon Brando T-shirt, Fonzie inspired fear and envy in men, and swoons among the gals.

Everyone was frightened of Fonzie. He could banish bad guys with a look. In one episode, Fonzie tried to teach Richie his style. Richie practised the grimaces, the flexes, the stares, but alas the bad guys were not impressed and certainly not deterred.

In the midst of a desperate scrape, Richie turned to Fonzie imploringly and asked: Why are my deadly looks, threatening flexes and strategic grimaces having no effect?

Oh yeah, Fonzie replied, I forgot to tell you. For all that to work, once in your life you have to have hit someone. You cannot imagine a deeper strategic insight.

At some point, Obama is going to have to do something seriously unpleasant to someone.

—Greg Sheridan, “Lots of People Love Obama, but Does Anyone in the World Really Fear Him?”, RealClearPolitics, Sept. 24, 2009 (available at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/09/24/waiting_for_a_fonzie_moment_in_obamas_richie_cunningham_presidency.html), via John Aravois, “More Fonzie, Less Richie,” AMERICAblog, Sept. 25, 2009 (available at http://www.americablog.com/2009/09/more-fonzie-less-richie.html).

Posted 2 years ago
Tagged: are aggressive, don't care what others think, .