A Culture of Blame

The horrific events of the past week in the Southern coastal areas have unfortunatley brought out the "Blame Bush" crowd. This culture of blame resides primarily on the left.

German Minister of Environment Jurgen Tritten's comments earlier this week certainly go to the core of this issue. His blaming of the Bush Administration for... not the government's handling of the crisis, but for the hurricane itself is very telling. Of course German politicians have a recent penchant for beating the Anti-American drum as part of electioneering, but his remarks still beg the question...why? What could he possibly hope to gain by publishing his editorial even as the events in New Orleans were unfolding? The fact that this tactic has somewhat proven results may say something about the current state of mind in Germany.

Look, so many contrasting things about global warming have been written that there is clearly an honest debate to be had about it's effects. But that's not the point. The point is that the first instinct of Herr Tritten was to self-righteously lash out and lecture. To blame GW Bush for these events is pure hyperbole. Everybody knows that the US congress voted something like 97-0 against ratifying Kyoto during the Clinton administration. But that does not stop the chorus of the negative from casting full blame on the current president. Who on the right blames Clinton for that?

America has shown a history of forgiveness that I'm not sure is fully understood in Germany. Forgiveness is part of our culture in a way that just does not exist in today's Germany. The Germans who hold on to a negative view of the US are, in my opinion, hypocritical. Germans have for the last 60 years asked (properly, I believe) not to be judged soley upon the Nazi era. But at the same time, they refuse to judge the United States on the totality of our actions and our history. Like all nations, America has certainly made it's share of mistakes. But who, with a mindful eye towards world history of the last one hundered years, would say that America has not been a force for good in the world? The answer is the "but" crowd of the left. The typical refrain is always "but, look at this negative thing, or that negative thing" about the US. Again that's a perfect example of looking at the world through a microscope, and not seeing the entire landscape.