Men I find to be a Sort of Beings very badly constructed, as they are generally more easily provok’d than reconcil’d, more dispos’d to do Mischief to each other than to make Reparation, much more easily deceiv’d than undeceiv’d, and having more Pride and even Pleasure in killing than in begetting one another …
Benjamin Franklin
Does nothing change? The conservatives, led by the spitting bile of Hannibecknbaugh, forget their history.
Kennedy genially confronted Khrushchev.
Nixon flew to meet Mao.
Reagan embraced Soviet President Gorbachev.
George Bush held hands with Saudi Arabia’s King Faud.
And, President Obama gracefully shook hands with Hugo Chavez, who seemed most intent on getting in front of the cameras.
Was Khrushchev’s bombast any less than Chavez’s anti-American rants? Was the Soviet Union more or less of a threat?
Nixon’s and Reagan’s outreach helped turn history.
We have a terrible history in Latin America and the Caribbean, not just for in hindsight misbegotten support of dictators during the Cold War. Might a handshake be the beginning of a self-respect between neighbors?
Well, not if the absent of anything but invective Hannibecknbaugh has anything to do about it. Of course, perhaps Hannibecknbaugh hasn’t read Franklin’s despair over diplomacy.
