Last updated on March 7th, 2014 at 05:47 pm
I wonder if there are some Republicans and conservative pundits out there today who are having some regrets. Back in September 2013, there was a lot of turmoil and disagreement going around regarding President Obama possibly looking towards a military resolution to the crisis in Syria. Many Democrats and liberals were against any military action due to basic ideology and the fact that the nation was suffering through war fatigue. However, it appeared that conservatives were against it simply because of their hatred for all things related to Obama.
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Therefore, when Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, many on the right rallied around the former KGB agent and asked that Obama follow Putin’s lead. In his column, Putin asked that the United States respect the United Nations and follow the advice of the Security Council (which Russia is a part of) and practice caution on any action related to Syria. Putin also stated that peaceful dialogue and diplomacy should be utilized first and foremost and that military action should only occur with a consensus of other nations.
At that time, you had members of the right-wing in this country go ga-ga over Putin. Pundits like Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, Erick Erickson and Sean Hannity were praising the Russian President for his stance. Other Republicans like Pat Buchanan and Ralph Peters claimed that Putin was providing the type of leadership that the US apparently lacked at that moment. Basically, if you tuned into Fox News or talk radio during that time, you got a whole lot of Putin hero-worshiping.
In fact, the hero-worshiping didn’t stop with Syria. After that, with the Winter Olympics fast approaching, many social conservatives took up the ‘Putin is awesome’ stance due to his country’s anti-gay laws. Therefore, after a while, you had the hawks and the religious right all joining hands and displaying their mutual affection for a man who had essentially become a dictator of his nation.
Well, now that Russia has invaded Crimea and appears to be on the verge of taking over Ukraine, all without any UN consensus or ‘peaceful dialogue’, I wonder how those same conservatives feel about him today? Do they feel used by their latest hero? Can they bring themselves to admit they were wrong about taking the side of a ruthless dictatorial leader over that of their very own president?
The recent Putin lovefest by some conservatives just goes to show how bad Obama Derangement Syndrome has gotten in this country. Many Republicans hold such a deep-seated hatred of President Obama that they have to support a contrary view to anything he says or does. Therefore, you get this situation where they throw their support towards another country’s leader, despite his reputation as a ruthless ideologue and puppetmaster. Now that Putin has shown that his words last September were beyond disingenuous, will we be seeing a moment of contrition from those who threw Obama under the bus to prop up Putin? I highly doubt it.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
