GLOBAL TEST (P.S.)

It’s not a crazy point of view, by the way. In Europe, large majorities would nod with approval at the idea of a “global test” for military action. In Israel, to have to submit to a “global test” would be understood as a national death sentence. We’re somewhere in between. It’s an appealing notion in a way—it rings of the brotherhood of man. Let Kerry say it. Let the voters decide. Only, since they would decide against it, Kerry obfuscates. Disturbing behavior in a democratic politician. (Or, at any rate, a politician operating in a democratic context; his remarks about George Washington and Ho Chi Minh cast doubt on whether Kerry should be considered democratic by conviction, as opposed to by necessity.)