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Ben Stein's Diary
Getaways
Is Obama a commie or a socialist? This and other musings from an ocean locale.
Monday
Here I am out in Malibu. I came out last night to check on things at our house. Right after I got here, a monsoon-like rain began to pour down. Just horrific. Scary. Luckily, I was happy as a clam inside my warm, toasty home.
But I could not stop thinking about the U.S., New Zealand, Australian, and British soldiers fighting in Burma during World War II. They were in real monsoons, day after day, leeches all over them, Japanese soldiers preparing to kill them, sick with dengue fever, malaria, dysentery, exhausted, hungry. Yet they fought on and on and on.
I could not stop thinking about U.S. forces in Vietnam in the jungle. Stepping on pongee sticks designed to poison them and kill them, mortared, sniped at, exhausted, shunned by the country that sent them there. Yet they fought magnificently and fought the Communists to a victory that Congress then snatched away from them.
They did not have a toasty home to return to. They did not have clean pajamas and shrimp. They had nothing but courage.
Well, I know I am a broken record on this subject, but I am enraged that Mr. Obama is proposing steep cuts in military benefits in terms of retirement health care and family health care. That is the last thing we should be cutting.
This has all become even more of an obsession with me than usual upon watching The World at War over and over again. I respectfully tell you that while the series has a distinct left-wing slant, and insanely includes Alger Hiss as an expert on U.S. defense policy without identifying him as a spy, The World at War is a work of genius. You must watch it.
I tried to read a long article by a woman with a beautiful Irish name in the Atlantic. I could not finish it for all of the self-reference, but then I thought, “Well, we writers are self-referential. What the heck.” It was a fine article.
Then I read a long, long, long, long article in another issue of the Atlantic by a simply beautiful woman named Kate Bolick, editor of Veranda magazine, about why she is single at the old age of 36. I really had to laugh. Kate, 36 is not old. It is very, very young, and you are a stunning and brilliant woman, and if you want to get married, you will. She goes into all kinds of strange history and economics and sociology to explain why she’s not married. It reminds me of Marx writing Das Kapital just as a way of venting his envy of his rich relatives who were kapitalists. What a lot of damage that horrible man did.
Kate, let yourself off the hook. You have a great career. You are gorgeous. You are young. Do not work so hard trying to prove a simple point: it is hard to find a good man. It is especially hard when you have been raised by a feminist, confused mother; she apparently was. Kate, be happy. You are a triumph as a human being. A genuine triumph.
By the way, the author tells of her ex-boyfriend asking her to help pick out his clothes for his wedding to another woman. How strange that is. I wonder if Ms. Bolick realizes how much that tells about him.
Then she really upset me by talking about how young people now have something called “the hook up” where they get roaring drunk, then go home and have sex with someone they hardly know and then talk about how inadequate their “partner” was. How horrible. What a cruel world this has become. “The hook up” sounds thoroughly awful. I greatly would prefer time with Julie Good Girl.
Anyway, I had (as noted) shrimp for dinner, then decided I was too tired to drive back to Beverly Hills, so I slept out here in Malibu next to my wonderful German short-haired pointer, the aforementioned Julie Good Girl.
I awakened this morning to hear on the radio about that Obama gaffe when he was talking to Mr. Medvedev of Russia. Apparently Medvedev was complaining that the U.S. was still seeking to defend itself with a missile shield. Obama promised that once he had won the upcoming election, he would disarm at a pace the Russians would like.
It is terrifying that he’s President.
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
drudge ette obama| 6.6.12 @ 6:43AM
You rather well summed up the state of things. The only omission was a failure to tell us what The Julie Good Dog had for her dinner.
Brooksifier | 6.6.12 @ 3:25PM
At least the Obama administration isn't a cabal-- as the Bush administration was.
Curtis Rasmussen| 6.6.12 @ 7:05PM
BDS. At least the signing-in procedure will reduce the troll sock puppets.
TSD| 6.6.12 @ 7:47AM
Thanks Ben, it is nice to hear your confirmation of feelings on our current President and his agenda. It is time we all share this bit of information with the useful idiots that support him in the hope (slight as it may be) that we convert them to vote him out before he destroys a country we all love and NEED!!
LindaF | 6.6.12 @ 7:50AM
Don't be afraid to enjoy what you have earned, both by your own efforts, and simply the passive effect of a life that is long and frugal.
I, too, have been under the weather - a lengthy respiratory infection, complicated by pneumonia and bronchitis. As of this morning, I seem to have - finally - turned the corner. I'm enjoying this small victory.
Life is still difficult - both my husband and I are still unemployed and over 60. We have not managed to unload one of our houses, which has become something of a financial drain. Only 1 of our 3 children has a job, and that is part-time.
But, life is good (beats the alternative), the grandchildren are adorable (as all grandchildren are), and I am a citizen in America.
What more can I ask of life?
Cobalt| 6.6.12 @ 8:20AM
"It is terrifying that he's President."
True. Now other people in America need to have a similar epiphany.
Hardcard| 6.6.12 @ 8:53AM
obumo and axeltrod can't be commies they love money too much. Gee benny stalin, mao,hitler, had wealth and booty galore. Palaces,dacas, servants, slaves and asswipers. Go take a nap.
SSG Baker| 6.6.12 @ 9:32AM
"My endless thought is, "How long can this keep going on?""
As long as one true American draws breath and fights for our beloved Republic that is how long.
nathan| 6.6.12 @ 9:54AM
For baby boomers Vietnam is one of the central themes of their lives. But to say Congress snatched victory or to say that Cronkite in his famous post Tet address impacted American public opinion ignores the facts. In 1965 after Ia Drang (watch "We Were Soldiers Once") LBJ asked McNamara who was in Europe to come home via Vietnam and review the situation and give recommendations. He did and he told LBJ to withdraw then and there that we had no chance of winning. We could put in hundreds of thousands of additional troops and we would still lose. LBJ should have listened to him because he was right. In the end HCM was prepared to lose a million people to unite the VN, we weren't prepared to lose 100K to stop him.
But fundamentally we had no reason to be there. HCM taking all of Vietnam threatened us not in the least. The "domino" theory had no basis in fact then or now. The "fight them there or fight them here" was necon nonsense that we would hear later in Iraq with equally disasterous results.
One of the questions I would dearly love to have Mitt get asked is, you had a high draft pick so you were not obligated to go. Why didn't you volunteer for the great neocon crusade of your generation? I would love to hear his answer.
Crassus| 6.6.12 @ 10:46AM
NEOCON!!! NEOCON!!!!
Al Adab| 6.6.12 @ 11:08AM
Ask the millions of dead in Cambodia or Laos whether the domino theory held water. Those fell AFTER South Vietnam. The fact is Johnson was. as you note, not preparred to take the steps necessary to secure South against the North. The Conservative (not neocon) position then was, "either fight to win or leave but make up your mind." Johnson did neither.
nathan| 6.6.12 @ 12:05PM
What if? Kennedy decides no vital interest is at stake so he pulls all American forces out of VN. HCM rolls rather easily into Saigon. HCM is more concerned about China, ancient enemy than anything else. At the time Lon Nol/Prince Sihonouk lead Cambodia. Without horribly long destabilizing war, Pol Pot probably doesn't come to power, no killing fields.
The death toll in the region probably drops substantially. The wear and tear on American assets like carriers which at the end of conflict were worn out is minimized. The social unrest at home is also minimized.
McNamara's point was we probably couldn't win no matter what strategy we used or what resources we threw at the conflict.
But should we have been there in the first place? Growing up I thought so but not now. Too many times in the post war period have adopted this "world's policeman" "white man's burden" "democracy jihad" approach which for the most has not worked and left things arguably worse than before we intervened as in Iraq. In part because we lack the knowledge to intelligently intervene, a lack of understanding of the players like in Libya.
And the Constitution simply doesn't for the most authorize any of this and the Founders would not support most if any of what we have engaged in all these years. I challenge any of you to find quotes that would support our engagement in VN or Iraq, countries that never attacked us and posed no real direct threat to us. You can't.
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 12:49PM
The conservative position was "When your country calls for your help, you go, like it or not."
The libertartian position was something like "either fight to win or leave."
The liberal/Democrat position was "we're not going to be the first party to be in power when we lose a war."
The Republican position was "we're not going to be the first party in power to lose a war."
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 12:52PM
The leftist position was to cheerlead for Ho Chi Minh and "let it all come down. I think. Well, maybe not."
The hippie position was "I'm outta here."
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 12:59PM
The average college kid position was: "maybe it'll be over before my student deferment runs out."
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:02PM
For them that didn't go to college, their position was either, "I'm going now, I'll enlist and get some choice," or "If I wait until I get drafted, I only have to do two years instead of three, so I'll wait."
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:05PM
For them who were already in the service, it was "the Army says if I volunteer for a second tour in Vietnam, I can shorten my enlistment by six months and get out early."
CJW| 6.6.12 @ 1:40PM
Al Adab
I agree.
This is the anniversay of D-Day and no articles or comments about D-Day, just the usual "Vietnam" crybaby stories.
Al Adab| 6.6.12 @ 1:58PM
We just had that conversation about D-Day this morning at coffee. There is a reason France doesn't speak German and we would do well to remember what it cost to keep them French.
Who was it that said, "The only territory America asked was for cemetaries to bury our dead."?
CJW| 6.6.12 @ 2:39PM
I heard Colin Powell say it, but do not know if he was the original.
It is the truth.
Bill84728| 6.7.12 @ 9:37AM
James (Major Gen. "Jumpin' Jim) Gavin (former commanding officer of the 82d Airborne Division in World War II), when appointed American ambassador to France, was told by President Charles DeGaulle (commander of the Free French in World War II) that France demanded that the U.S. remove all of its military facilities from French soil.
Gavin famously responded, "Does mean the cemeteries of the American troops who gave their lives to liberate France too?" DeGaulle, in a rare moment for him, then shut up.
Boar Hunter| 6.6.12 @ 12:00PM
Your a pathetic ass.
You actually referenced a hollywood movie as support for your delusion?
The reason "we lost" the war was because liberals, like you, were then and continue now to disgrace our country.
Don't worry you coward, Vietnam is over and you can't be drafted. You won't have to worry about moving to Canada with the other cowards who hate America...you can stay here and keep hating America from behind your keyboard.
It amazes me that you Jane Fonda traitors still have not forgotten all the trite anti-Vietnam war rhetoric.
My next door neighbor was a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam. When he arrived home and entered the airport in his dress uniform he was spit on. Were you there?
nathan| 6.6.12 @ 12:18PM
I make reference to the movie because the person who wrote the book and commanded the unit served as a technical consultant on the movie so while movies are entertainment first, history second, this movie isn't bad. But also it's a good leadership study.
But second, Ia Drang THE BATTLE is arguably THE turning point of the war. As I said, and read carefully here, what does McNamara SECDEF say? WE CAN'T WIN. This is three years before TET. Three years before Cronkite. Consider if you will for a moment. What if LBJ takes his advice? How many names are on the wall? Is there even a wall? At this point Pol Pot is not in power? Does he even come to power? Would there have been a killing fields?
And again, correct me if I'm wrong but Romney had a high number and wasn't drafted. Care to ask him why he didn't volunteer? Going to call him names too for not going?
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:13PM
The battle of Ia Drang was the turning point of the Vietnam War? Could you explain that, please?
You DO know that the battle of Ia Drang was at best a draw, don't you? The next day's battle at LZ Albany was a defeat for the U.S., a bad one.
Ia Drang DID highlight the value of airmobile tactics. But a turning point? I don't think so.
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:16PM
The movie, by the way, portrays the battle fairly accurately until the end. There never was any attack on the enemy fortifications, successful or otherwise; the actual end was that the U.S. cavalry forces left the area. The so-called "victory" claim is based on the number of enemy casualties.
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:54PM
A favorite scene of mine is when M/Sgt. Sam Elliot racks the slide of his M1911 and says, "Gentlemen, prepare to defend yourselves!"
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:20PM
If any one battle was a turning point in the Vietnam War, it was the Tet Offensive, where a U.S. strategic victory was portrayed by a treasonous journalist media (with Walter Cronkite as their lead running dog) as a defeat.
Another arguable turning was the fight for Hill 869, Hamburger Hill (they made a movie out of that fight too), where nine days of slaughter led to a U.S. victory and the taking of the hill, only to end when U.S. forces were pulled out and the hill left to the NVA to re-occupy. The futility of the war and the death of troops for no apparent result became obvious.
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:22PM
Hill 937, Ap Bia Mountain, my error.
nathan| 6.6.12 @ 2:53PM
It would be nice if people would actually read what I write and respond to it. Again, movies are what? Entertainment first, history second. I can watch "Gettysburg" a pretty good movie, and pick it apart even though I really like it. But remember also that most of what we call "history" is opinion and interpretation. Example: Absolute Fact Cronkite made his famous address on whatever date. Books have been written on what his address meant. But the verbiage in those books are not "facts", only the address itself is. Because we can and will argue the meaning of that address for another hundred years.
Again as I said IA Drang is arguably THE turning poing because SECDEF McNamara says, we can't win/won't win get out/get out now. He makes it clear put in two hundred/four hundred thousand troops, the outcome won't change. Now if LBJ listens to him, the war is over, probably no wall, limited social unrest here, probably no killing fields. That's why you can make a case for it being the decisive battle.
Get my point? As for Cronkite who saw more combat than Cheney or Romney did (as a reporter flew with the 8th Airforce) did he make opinion or reflect it? Probably the latter.
Al Adab| 6.6.12 @ 3:58PM
How do Romney and Cheney get into this?
It was Cronkite reporting Tet who stated, "In the opinion of this reporter...". It was also he who reported during the 1968 Chicago Dem Convention, "The kids, oh the poor kids" in reference to the protesters being dispersed by the police. Neither is an example of professionalism in journalism. It was opinion and commentary and harmed this country. May he RIP.
CJW| 6.6.12 @ 4:31PM
Al Adab and Boar Hunter
nathan lives in the make believe world of what IF Kennedy did this and that, and what If MacNamara actually said what he said and had the balls to do something.
He ignores that the Dems, Kennedy and Johnson, got us into Vietnam, and the Dem Congress in 1974 cut off all aid to South Vietnam thereby insuring the North Vietnam invasion in Jan 1975 and victory in March 1975.
He ignores that Cronkite reported a Commie loss in Tet as a Commie victory when there were only three channels on TV and Cronkite was king of the reporters/commentator.
But it makes him feel good to ask if Cheney and Romney served as if that would have changed the war.
Do you think he voted for Bush 41 and Dole over DraftDodger Bubba, or McCain over Obama?
The turning point of the war is when the Dem Congress cut off aid in 1974 thereby losing the war .
Bill84728| 6.7.12 @ 9:41AM
Ia Drang didn't convince McNamara that the war was unwinnable. In fact, it was McNamara who is the main person responsible for the concept of measured response that escalated the Vietnam War from a war of a few hundred advisors, there solely on a volunteer basis, to a war of 500,000 American troops, many if not most of them draftees.
So I wouldn't be too quick to give McNamara credit for being prescient about the Vietnam War. My personal view, as one who was old enough to have served in Vietnam after 1964, is that McNamara was pretty much a scumbag who talked out of both sides of his mouth, depending on what suited his purposes.
Bill84728| 6.7.12 @ 9:55AM
It's mostly lefties who control commentary on the movies, so you always hear that it was either Henry Kissinger or Edward Teller who was the inspiration for Dr. Strangelove in that movie. But I think it was Robert Strange McNamara (yes, that was his real middle name).
Bill84728| 6.7.12 @ 9:58AM
Cronkite not only flew with the 8th Air Force, he landed in Normandy in a glider with the 82d Airborne. So what? A gutsy reporter can still be a dupe.
Bill84728| 6.8.12 @ 9:20AM
Holland, not Normandy. My error.
Bill84728| 6.7.12 @ 10:01AM
McNamara didn't tell President Johnson that we couldn't win in Vietnam after Ia Drang. He danced around that but arguably said the Vietnam War was unwinnable after he had the Pentagon Papers compiled in 1966, long after Ia Drang.
McNamara served two presidents in prosecuting the Vietnam War. He is quoted as saying that he was proud to be in charge of that effort as late as 1965.
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 10:26AM
Is Obama a socialist or a Communist?
My Communist Sociology professor at NYU would have characterized him as a "bourgeois pseudo-bohemian dilletante." He might have been a Commie but he had the cast of characters down right.
JimH| 6.6.12 @ 2:15PM
Speaks socialist. Acts facist.
C. Vernon Crisler | 6.6.12 @ 10:37AM
Many of our leaders in WW2 knew about the Holocaust, but kept silent about it. They held to the reasonable assumption that the best way to stop it was to end the war as quickly as possible by defeating Hitler.
Millions died during the interim because the allies did nothing to stop the Holocaust. But if they had delayed long enough to do something about it, the war would have continued, and Hitler would have developed his rockets and jet planes. Untold millions more would have died if Hitler had not been defeated when he was defeated.
It was a terrible Sophie's choice.
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:50PM
The bombing of Auschwitz is always a perennial favorite in this debate. It could have been accomplished. How many planes would have been shot down? How many prisoners would have been blown to bits? How would a bombing like that have affected the Nazi extermination program?
PCPSmoker| 6.6.12 @ 9:24PM
You are full of shit. Roosevelt might have known about it, but the Allies were in no position to aerially bomb some camps in Eastern Europe, since they were having trouble bombing Germany!
The true nature of your comment is as a device to bash America for some moral failing. Roosevelt knew of the purges and the brutality of Stalin. Yet, he was Stalin's biggest fan. Fuck you for your attempt to bash America, especially on the anniversary of D day. Fuck you motherfucker.
Bill84728| 6.7.12 @ 9:43AM
Actually, Auschwitz was reachable by bombers flying out of North Africa. In one incident, American bombers actually flew over it. After June 1944, Auschwitz was reachable by bombers flying from French bases.
Bill84728| 6.7.12 @ 9:44AM
Oh, and I forgot that Auschwitz was also reachable by American bombers flying out of Italy after 1943.
Al Adab| 6.6.12 @ 11:05AM
I enjoy Ben steins musings and observations, but I note he is always in one vacation spot or another. How do I get a gig like that?
Occam's Tool| 6.6.12 @ 11:49AM
Dear Al:
Practice saying "Bueller" in as deadpan and bored a way as possible, and you, too, can have unearned success.
Bolick's not married because she expects too much of men. We are uncomplicated creatures, as Pat Conroy would have it, who dream of sun, sand, surf, women, wine and sea. Some nights we dream we are a dog, who found an unmarked feminist tree. (Stolen and mutilated from his A Losing Season, I believe).
Al Adab| 6.6.12 @ 3:15PM
Occam...?; Occam...?; Dr. Occam...? How's that?
solidground| 6.6.12 @ 12:11PM
Ben, the former masters of the Kremlin liked money and the life style that comes with it a whole lot as well. The current masters in China are exactly the same. Remember that socialist masters are the very embodiment of "do as I say." Obama follows perfectly in their wake.
Marie| 6.6.12 @ 12:53PM
Marxists/Communists don't like money? Have you seen Vladimir Putin's house? How can you seriously believe that when you speak of Karl Marx's wealth envy? That dog don't hunt anymore, and you need to stop spreading the idea that communists and marxists don't like money. They just like other people's money.
Bill84728| 6.6.12 @ 1:28PM
Even Stalin, celebrated for his revolutionary austerity, had a very nice dacha outside of Moscow.
Ronsch| 6.6.12 @ 1:34PM
Ben,
of course NerObama is a filthy socialist communist marxist...it should be readily apparent to someone with your IQ. BTW, he is not likable, articulate, or intelligent. he is a dismal failure and the sooner we get out from under his cloud, the better.
BTW, as a side note...It is "punji" sticks, not "pongee" sticks that the VC and NVA used in their booby traps in the jungle.
Cobalt| 6.6.12 @ 2:46PM
Too tired to drive twenty miles back to Beverly Hills?
Mr. Stein, you might have "iron-poor tired blood". It might be time to consider Geritol. You can feel better, fast.
You might even become a spokesman for Geritol.
Trish Trotter| 6.6.12 @ 3:46PM
Julie Good Girl! A German short-haired pointer.
Adorable! Please Ben, please post a photo of Julie Good Girl. I just love dogs.
If any of you readers have stories or pictures of your dog, please mail them to me:
trishbipolartourettes@aol.com
Mail them in the next hour or two. Thanks!
Trish Trotter| 6.6.12 @ 3:46PM
And GODDAMIT DON'T MAKE ME WAIT ALL DAY!
PCPSmoker| 6.6.12 @ 9:12PM
"But I don't think he's a Marxist. He likes money a lot. So does Mr. Axelrod. He's no Commie. He is a full-scale capitalist. They're all socialists for everyone else and kapitalists for themselves."
Is Stein high on bath salts? What the fuck was this rambling piece about? As to the above, what makes you think commies and socialists don't like money or luxury? Do you think all the political maneuvering in Havana/Moscow/Pekin is not meant to amass as much power and goodies as possible? The whole racket of communism is to create a royal mastermind class, with all of the benefits of the old royalty, who dominate those stupid enough to give them power. Time to retire Ben. You are getting stupid.
fdcampbell| 6.7.12 @ 12:11PM
Ben:
Somehow your musings leave me feeling better about life and our country.
You have a wonderful gift.
May our mutual God bless and keep you and your loved ones.
Fred Campbell