tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8446351548038522890.post4385322795689996067..comments2024-03-28T16:15:19.319-04:00Comments on Saideman's Semi-Spew: Political Will? Will Not!Steve Saidemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09881915512311951902noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8446351548038522890.post-29809548374442885542012-05-20T17:31:05.529-04:002012-05-20T17:31:05.529-04:00I don't know about the history of the term, bu...I don't know about the history of the term, but I suspect that "political will" is a relic of the Vietnam debacle. One American political tribe's explanation of why the US failed in Vietnam was, "we didn't try hard enough". If only we had put in more troops/dropped more bombs/nuked the buggers, we would have won. A LOT of people desperately wanted to believe this in the 1970s (some still believe it today), and the only reason they could come up with for why we hadn't won was "political will". It wasn't that we COULDN'T win - we (our cowardly leaders) just didn't want to enough.<br /><br />That this explanation sounds suspiciously like Hitler's explanation for the German loss of WWI is an irony totally lost on these folks. It's always been a crappy explanation, dredged up by people to filled with nationalist fervor to face the truth. Unfortunately, the rest of us are stuck with this "idea" floating around in the soup as a consequence.R. William Ayreshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01228717107253041752noreply@blogger.com