Peace and tolerance are starting to break out.
I know that life is
supposed to be full of surprises but the last few weeks have been ridiculous.
For example, you had
the unnerving spectacle of Vladimir Putin, the former KGB thug who runs Russia,
rescuing Barack Obama, the former community organizer who runs his mouth, from
the trap Obama had laid for himself.
President Obama was, to borrow a phrase, between a rock and a hard place. Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, was behaving badly — killing people, possibly with poison gas, that sort of thing — and refused to stop.
So Obama, who had
warned and warned Assad of dire consequences, decided to lead a charge against
the dictator. But when he jumped out of the trenches, raised his sword and said
“follow me,” nobody followed him.
Not Democrats nor
Republicans, not England, Europe or the United Nations, not the American
people.
He was out there alone
in No Man’s Land, except for a funny looking French guy with glasses.
So he said “Maybe I
should get Congress’s approval on this. That would be a good idea.”
But not that good an idea.
If Congress rejected him on the issue he would either be forced to attack Syria
on his own authority (and his authority isn’t what it used to be) or be seen
letting a murderous pipsqueak back him down.
Enter Putin to save
Obama from disaster by saying “Gentlemen, gentlemen, can’t we all get along?”
Russia offered to help negotiate the crisis and both Obama and Assad jumped at
the life preserver offered them and negotiations began.
Thus, we didn’t get
dragged into another no-win war, Putin walked away smelling like a rose, and
Obama lived to vacillate another day. What’s not to like?
We had hardly
recovered from the shock of being introduced to Vlad the Statesman when Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani began making peaceful noises to us, suggesting that maybe
something could be worked out on the issue of their nuclear program.
Nothing definite was
proposed, mind you, but it has been hinted that perhaps Iran would give up its
nuclear activities in exchange for an easing of the sanctions that have
crippled its economy.
I don’t know what if
anything will come of it, but it’s a lot more encouraging than their Great
Satin riff.
And if it eases
tensions between the two countries and makes a “nuclear event” less likely, it
would be a marvelous achievement.
Do you think it’s
possible that Obama’s maddening rope-a-dope style of diplomacy is actually
working? Now that would be a surprise.
But perhaps the
greatest surprise of all came from the Pope, of all people. In an interview
with an Italian Jesuit journal he said that the Church shouldn’t be so obsessed
with abortion, contraception, and homosexuality.
The Church, he said,
had “locked itself in
small things, in small-minded rules” and shouldn’t be so prone to
condemn.
He further said he
envisioned a greater role for women in the Church and that he wasn’t in a
position to judge homosexuals who are of good will and in search of God.
Wow. I never, in my
lifetime, thought I’d hear a Pope talk like that — you know, like a human
being.
Admittedly, he didn’t
say women should be priests or have the right to choose or that being gay was
grand. But simply letting a little light and fresh air into a room that has
been sealed tight for centuries was an amazing phenomenon.
Surprise isn’t a
strong enough word.
Not everything was
surprising, though. The Republicans in Congress are back at it, toiling away to
save America from an expansion of health care and plotting to shut down the
government if they can’t stave off this specter.
Also, a disturbed
military contractor took out his anguish at coworkers and other people crossing
his path at the Washington Navy Yard, leaving 12 dead before authorities killed
him too. The head of the National Rifle
Association said it proved the Navy Yard needed more guns.
Some things never
change.
OtherWords columnist
Donald Kaul lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. OtherWords.org