Daylight is the best antiseptic

I shouldn’t presume to give the political right advice on how to handle the recent Malaysian Airlines tragedy. After all they have managed to avoid the trap of rational discourse for years now. Instead, think of this as a few suggestions on how to appear patriotic while at the same time undermining the authority of the guy (President Obama) who will actually have to deal with the issue.

On Thursday, July 17 Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down over the eastern border of the Ukraine. All 298 people on board died in the crash and at least one of them was from the U.S. It also appears that Ukrainian separatists, who are sponsored and supplied by Russia, fired the missile that brought down the jet.

Those are the unbleached facts so far. These 298 men, women, and children who will be mourned by friends and family and whose deaths will undoubtedly be stirred into political sauce for a presidential basting.

A few hours after the tragedy some on the right had already started exploiting the death of innocents. Excellence In Broadcasting’s Old Faithful, Rush Limbaugh, started spouting about how the timing of the tragedy was a little suspicious. On his Thursday show literally hours after the incident, Limbaugh said: “I don’t want appear to be callous here, folks, but you talk about an opportunity to abandon the Obama news at the border? And, no, I’m not suggesting anything other than how the media operates. Anyway, it’s eerie. It is really eerie. A Malaysian airliner. It was on the way to Kuala Lumpur. Why would it be shot down? Over Ukraine?”

Eerie? Were Ouija boards involved? Is the president through some Kenyan/Muslim esoterica, able to control events in the Ukraine? The illiterate implication is that it’s more than just a coincidence. Of course, Limbaugh never comes right out and says that. He blames the media for focusing on, you know, the news and how this will work to Obama’s advantage by shifting the focus away from the border. Oh that crafty Obama and his evil news minions.

That’s all the Limbaugh “ditto-heads” needed. Just drop that little tidbit into the punchbowl and watch them lap it up.

I can’t begin to give any advice to this virtuoso of political malignancy. He says just enough to stir people up and then stands back to admire his handiwork. Kudos master Limbaugh.

On the other hand, the man who would be president, John McCain, has called Obama cowardly and said we should move troops to the border just for starters. This shows a certain lack of nuance found in the Limbaugh approach. If I may be so bold senator, there is a better way.

Scenario No. 1: The President enlists the help of Europeans to investigate the tragedy and increase sanctions on Russia.

Response: Well, obviously the President is ceding his authority to someone else. You know, the people whose countrymen were the majority of casualties. This will only weaken our standing in the world and encourage more acts of unprovoked aggression. Obama may as well be aiming the missiles himself.

Scenario No. 2: Obama responds with force by bolstering the Ukrainian military with weapons and perhaps flying a few sorties just short of the Russian border.

Response: Yet another example of an overreaching, power hungry, imperial president. I’ll bet you could even get a lawsuit out of this.

Scenario No. 3: The President calls on Russia to deescalate the Ukrainian crisis or suffer more economic sanctions.

Response: This one’s easy. It’s similar to scenario No. 1 but this time we are going it alone. Now is when to call the president cowardly. Any red-blooded, all-American would go in with guns blazing. Resorting to a less than brutal response is just so Kenyan. Call out the reserves and have them muster in Poland.

Can you see how this works Senator? It’s a tactic you yourself have used many times. Remember immigration reform, climate change, cap and trade, Bo Bergdahl, etc. This way you can lambast the President for being too weak and too strong. He can be too indecisive and too dictatorial at the same time. You just need to be more flexible.

The other alternative is to support the leader of the free world in the midst of a crisis. That may be the way we used to do things in this country but not anymore. That was when politics ended at the shore. That was when there was a functioning two-party system. That was when the death of 298 souls amounted to more than political fodder.

It’s been said that the best antiseptic is daylight. If you and your ilk keep shining the light of day on yourselves, we may yet get back to being that aforementioned country.

Chuck Legge is a freelance political cartoonist and community columnist who lives in Sutton.