"Obama was pilloried for “apologizing” for American policies, though he did not in any way apologize. Can you imagine what would happen if he actually did?"
This.
The majority of the American people remain hugely nationalistic and extraordinarily sensitive to anything that challenges that, as you saw there. A majority of us may have disagreed with the Iraq war, but because it was "no longer worth it," not because of any moral qualms. They may be okay with the withdrawal; but if you even imply that our country should be held to the same moral standards as everyone else and admit fault when there so clearly is one, they'll run sobbing into the arms of the Republicans who'll coo and soothe them with "there, there, of course America didn't do anything wrong, the liberals are the real meanies for saying otherwise."
The fact that we as a people are more upset by the admission of this sin (a war that caused the deaths of over a million Iraqis) than we are by the sin itself is nauseating, and speaks volumes about what a joke our sense of right and wrong has become.
"Obama was pilloried for “apologizing” for American policies, though he did not in any way apologize. Can you imagine what would happen if he actually did?"
This.
The majority of the American people remain hugely nationalistic and extraordinarily sensitive to anything that challenges that, as you saw there. A majority of us may have disagreed with the Iraq war, but because it was "no longer worth it," not because of any moral qualms. They may be okay with the withdrawal; but if you even imply that our country should be held to the same moral standards as everyone else and admit fault when there so clearly is one, they'll run sobbing into the arms of the Republicans who'll coo and soothe them with "there, there, of course America didn't do anything wrong, the liberals are the real meanies for saying otherwise."
The fact that we as a people are more upset by the admission of this sin (a war that caused the deaths of over a million Iraqis) than we are by the sin itself is nauseating, and speaks volumes about what a joke our sense of right and wrong has become.