Operation Dog Whistle

During the president's trip to Europe this week--which, I'm sure, he's s-o-o-o-o looking forward to--it's noteworthy that he will stop off in Hungary, in part to recognize the anniversary of the the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, fifty years ago.

If you've been paying attention since the McCarthy era, or at anytime since, then you might have noticed that many of the fine folks on the right believe that the United States should have taken a more aggressive stance during the Cold War, sometimes called "rollback" as opposed to containment. Many of these folks also think that the United States should have come to the aid of those seeking to throw off Soviet domination (apologies to former President Ford) in Eastern Europe.

President Eisenhower, of course, knew that supporting the Hungarian revolution would have led to a superpower showdown, and that that led to nothing good. But it's always been easy to criticize that realistic assessment of the situation, especially for those on the right who have rarely been in power.

Now that those righties are in power, however, I think that we're going to hear some revisionist history, about how it's the duty of the United States to "stand up" to tyranny, and many, many comparisons of the Cold War to whatever it is we're calling the current conflict . . . Global War on Terror, the Long War, the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism, Whack a Mullah . . . I've literally lost track. I think it's a near certainty that Bush will criticize Eisenhower, at least implicitly, for his failure in the face of tyranny. Bush will tell us that we must do more to spread freedom, etc., etc. As if.

Bush criticizing Eisenhower, of course, is one of those things that's difficult to imagine, unless you've been paying attention since 9-11, or anytime since.

Most people will ignore Bush's remarks. But, like a dog whistle, all those folks out there who believe that FDR sold out Eastern Europe at Yalta will hear his remarks . . . and nod. And that's a scary thought.