A Lesson in Logic for President Bush

Well there he goes again. President Bush using logic that would get him a D- in any college public speaking class. This morning (May 15th.) President Bush told the Israeli Knesset (without actually mentioning Obama’s name) that Barack Obama is willing to appease terrorist in the same manner that European leaders appeased Hitler prior to WWII.

This comment, made in a speech in Israel, is direct attack on Barack Obama’s now famous statement that as president he would be willing to sit down with the leaders of Syria, Iran and North Korea to “talk with" them about our differences. In his statement, the President commits what logicians call a “straw man” fallacy. He attributes to Obama a weak position that Obama does not advocate than he attempts to refute the argument that Bush claims Obama holds.

Obama said “talking with.” President Bush slipped the meaning of “talking with” to his own phrase “appeasement.” “Appeasement” is a concept much easier to oppose than is the concept which comes from the phrase “talking with.” However, the two terms are not similar. “Appeasement” means giving in and allowing others to have their way, no matter what. “Talking with,” as Obama has said he meant it, means hard diplomatic negotiations, following a thorough preparation, in order to realize out goals and objectives. If the president takes Obama’s meaning as it was intended, it would make his refutation very difficult, so he simply attributed to Obama a meaning that Obama did not intend, but one much easier to refute. It is an old propaganda technique and people have been falling for it for thousands of years.

Diplomatic negotiations is the way to make us safer. We must talk with governments that oppose us, but we do not have to give in to their every demand. This is the way American has done it in the past and it is the best way to achieve our international goals. Since Bush took office, we tended to shoot first and discuss later. That policy has not made us safer. Indeed, it has made us less safe in this world.