Liberals and Conflict

Two editorials on Monday struck a note on liberal attitudes toward international conflict, more specifically the 30-year U.S. conflict with Iran. First, George Will writing about the Obama administration's U.N. ambassador Susan Rice, who was interviewed on a Sunday morning show. Rice apparently rambled on about the "international community" and Iran:

Rice really thinks there is a community out there. To believe that is to believe, as liberals do, that harmony is humanity's natural condition, so discord is a remediable defect in arrangements.

Christopher Hitchens was even more direct with his critique of Obama's recent tour of Europe and the President's general naivete on the subject of talks with Iran:

Some differences cannot be split. Many conflicts are real and do not arise from mere cultural misunderstandings. Obama must learn this or be taught it, whichever comes sooner.

The best summary of the frustration that conservatives like myself have with these liberal attitutes was John McCain in the Sept 26, 2008 presidential debate:

So let me get this right. We sit down with Ahmadinejad, and he says, "We're going to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth," and we say, "No, you're not"? Oh, please.