May You Live in Interesting Times

Believe it or not, this is actually a Chinese curse, and not something that people actually want. And yet, reading what some are writing about Obama, and listening to what they say about Obama, you would think that people actually do want to live in interesting times- they want to live in a time of great upheaval and great change.

Many want Obama to be Lincoln, who, even though he was a great President, was head of a country that descended into a Civil War that was incredibly bloody and socially destructive. They want Obama to be FDR, who was the head of a nation that went into its longest and deepest recession ever and engaged in another bloody and destructive war. Or they want Obama to be JFK or LBJ, both of whom ran a country that was in the midst of some interesting times- riots, strikes, Vietnam, etc.

How come liberals and the media don't want to live in the 1980's, that was a long boring time of economic growth and rebuilding of strength. Or the 1950's, when our country returned to white picket fences and normal times (admittedly, I'm too young for this, but I always loved that show Wonder Years). Because those were the boring times under Republican Presidents, and were not times when liberals grew in power.

Via Ed Driscroll, here is what Jonah Goldberg wrote:

Listening to liberals gush over a "new New Deal" and Obama's call for us to emulate the "Greatest Generation," you'd think they want another Great Depression and World War.

Indeed, liberals have long idolized the 1930s as a decade of great unity. It wasn't. The 1930s was a miserable decade of poverty, domestic unrest, labor strife, violations of civil liberties and widespread fear. If liberals really loved peace, prosperity and national cohesion, they'd remember the 1920s or 1950s more fondly. And yet they don't. Why? Because liberals didn't get to impose their schemes and dreams on the country in those decades. Behind all the talk of unity and bipartisanship and shared sacrifice lies an uglier ambition: power. The audacity of hope behind all this Lincoln-FDR-Obama blather is the dream of riding roughshod over the opposition, of having their way, of total victory.

The Chinese curse and cliche "may you live in interesting times" is on point. Liberals (and a few conservatives as well, alas) seem desperate to live in interesting times. Not me.

One can only hope that we don't live in interesting times, nor suffer the even more worse curses of you coming to the attention of those in authority, or our nation finding what liberals are looking for.

UPDATE: Powerlineblog has used the phrase "interesting times" in its blog post today as well! I think there is something to this curse. Also, there is a really good Terry Pratchett with the title "Interesting Times" too- I highly recommend it- Cohen the Barbarian and some of his geriatric colleagues combine with Rincewind the Wizard to take over the Chinese Empire.