The Godfather and foreign policy
Hey, I love an absurdly-extended Godfather metaphor as much as any blogger out there (Peggy Noonan’s not a blogger), but Mitchell Hulsman in the LA Times has just stretched this one till it snaps.
This, of course, is the hinge of Francis Ford Coppola’s movie, “The Godfather.” It is also a startlingly useful metaphor for the strategic problems and global power structure of our time. The don, emblematic of Cold War American power, is struck by forces he did not expect and does not understand, as was America on 9/11. Intriguingly, his heirs embrace very different visions of family strategy that approximate the three schools of thought — liberal institutionalism, neoconservatism and realism — vying for control of U.S. foreign policy today.
His conceit is that Solozzo is Ahmedinejad, and the Corleone brothers represent these strands of thought: Tom Hagen is the institutionalist, working within existing structures like the UN:
….similar to the liberal institutionalism of today’s Democratic Party. The way to handle Sollozzo, Tom judges, is not through force but through negotiation. Tom thinks even a rogue power can be brought to terms, if the family accommodates his needs and accepts him as a normalized player in the Corleones’ rules-based community.
Maybe so. Then he goes on to compare the neoconservatives to trigger-happy Sonny, and Hulsman’s wise-and-sainted realists to the new don, Michael:
The strategy that ultimately saves the Corleone family from the Sollozzo threat and equips it to cope with the new world comes from Michael, the youngest and least experienced of the don’s sons. Unlike Tom or Sonny, Michael has no formulaic fixation on a particular policy instrument; his overriding goal is to protect the family’s interests by any and all means necessary. In today’s foreign policy terminology, Michael is a realist.
Relinquishing the mechanistic, one-trick-pony approaches of his brothers, Michael uses soft and hard power in flexible combinations to influence others. Can the Iran policies advocated by candidates in either party be said to proceed from these assumptions?
Yeah, um, actually Michael Corleone shot Solozzo in the face in a crowded restaurant and ran off to Italy. That’s making allies, all right. That’s restoring the underworld’s respect for the Corleones as a team player. And then there’s the whole account-settling at the end, too…maintaining Corleone hegemony by the underworld equivalent of a worldwide nuclear strike. I doubt even those trigger-happy neocons Hulsman cites are ready for that.
See, I think the point of the Godfather is a very Burkean one. (Machiavellian too, but that’s another post.) The wise old Don, after meeting with the other heads of the families, realizes that the Solozzo business and his apparent new enemy Don Tattaglia were small potatoes, and part of a much larger push to topple his family’s influence. It was, he realizes, Barzini all along.*
Don Corleone and Michael, because they are themselves evil men, understand the truth of Edmund Burke’s admonition:
There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief.**
But here’s the big question: Where’s Corleone brother Fredo in this analogy? Fumbling his gun and crying impotently over the wounded Don in the first Godfather movie, living a dissipated life with Moe Greene in Vegas, and by Godfather II he’s taken up with Hyman Roth’s side against the Family and he’s hitting the sex shows in Havana with Johnny Ola. And constantly whining that he’s smaaaaaaht, he can run things! Sure, let Fredo take care of some mickey-mouse nightclub somewhere. He wants respect!
The analogy makes more sense if you look at it this way:
The “Realist” Republicans like James Baker and institutionalist Democrats like Lee Hamilton, who were behind the “let’s negotiate with Iran” Iraq Study Group report? Those guys are Tom Hagen.
The Obama/Pelosi/Jim Moran/Cynthia McKinney/Bob McDermott Democrats? Fredo.
* I’m not sure there’s a real-world analogue to Barzini out there; Russia and China certainly are itching to take us down a peg and they’re certainly not our allies, but I’m not convinced they’re driving events the way Barzini was.
**A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly, 1791. You never hear the second half of that quote; it’s always just the “believing” evil part. No, Burke says your safety depends on your actually doing something about it.
_____________________
MORE: If this is realism, sign me up. Here’s “realist” Michael Corleone, explaining his philosophy to Tom Hagen in Godfather II:
I don’t feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.
Meanwhile, Ed has the latest Fredocrat bleat from Obama on video: Truman negotiated with Tojo, just like I’ll negotiate with Iran.
Yeah, Truman negotiated with his enemies; his emissaries were Fat Man and Little Boy.
_________________
{Post by See-Dubya; H/T to Hot Air Headlines.}
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Great, now I need to clean the coffee off of my monitor =)
Not to mention the fact that at the end of the film he kills the heads of all the families, as well as those who had betrayed is own family, in order to consolidate his power.
Great analogy!
Democrats meaning this:
It ain’t the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I’m schmart! Not like everybody says… like dumb… I’m schmart and I want respect! …
Somehow this lefty forgot to figure out how the part of the “12th Imam” figures in! Now that is realism.
Furthermore, the assassination of Solozzo was Sonny and the capo’s idea and plan – Michael was just the trigger man. He wins at the end by being more ruthless and violent than anyone else in the film, except he maintains his reason and judgement… unlike Sonny.
And you complain about Obama being an elitist. If you know why Burke is, you get your coffee at Starbucks.
So who’s Hillary?
Check out today’s Jerusalem Post to read about Obama’s left wing advisors. One of his foreign policy advisors is more proSyrian than the Syrian ambassador to the US. See todays’ http://www.jpost.com
How about this movie?
What does it mean if one sees a movie, not as a metaphore about life, but as 2 hours of escapist entertainment?
As the day passes, you must use more brain cells trying to maintain your respitory rate than reading what you post.
I hate starbucks.
I know “why Burke is”.
It means I’m educated. It means I choose to read and not be ignorant. And I’m as far from elite as one gets (unless you’re talking WoW, in which case, i’m uber-l33t)
And I never graduated college. I just chose to continue educating myself long after passing thru the halls of acadamia.
You’re going to have to try harder.
Good article, Dub. Interesting take on things
Once again, lgm swoops, poops, squawks, scoots. Ignore him, folks
lgm saith:
Yes, I know who Edmund Burke is, btw your meds are wearing off, reup.
lgm,
See-Dubya posted this you idiot!
Great job as usual See-Dubya. Gun thread coming soon – hmmmm?
S/D check out Jawa, they have a new Rimfire Plinker with the scoop on the gun.
L
I’m sure Obama’s gun policy will occasion a new gun thread pretty soon.
I hope Ragnar likes his rifle, but I’m not a big fan of Remingtons or synthetic stocks.
I’m elitist that way.
More video of “plinking” on the jihadis at the Jawa here.
#8 John Ansell
I give that movie two thumbs down.
Hillary as Darth Vader, yes. But, I picture Barack HUSSEIN Obama more as Jar Jar Binks.
I know i should ignore him…but its illegal to shoot seagulls out of the air normally, so…have to do it somewhere, right?
“Leave the gun, take the cannoli”
And Saddam is Luca Brazzi – because he sleeps with the fishes.
Hooah.
Feebz baiting AJ! Gotta love this blog!
Soap. Mornin to ya. (couldnt resist)
Truman negotiated with Tojo? Oh, Yeah… Surrender unconditionally or we’ll totally destroy your country.
My Godfather metaphor is better.
Jeremiah Wright As The Godfather
No, if you are going to go the Star Wars route … Hillary/Obama/the Dem Machine as Lord Palpatine. Darth Vader would be their socialist utopia.
Ultimately, they would be defeated by the very machine they put in place to give them “power”.
It all goes to show again, that Obama is an inexperienced politician, vying to fulfill his dream of power. The President’s main job is foreign affairs, not domestic affairs. His “touchy-feely, give ‘em a hug” approach will prove to be a major disaster for this country. He just doesn’t realize that every despot can’t be/won’t be our good friends, even if we just talk. Best thing he can do for himself is sit down and read a good…I mean a really good…book on American history on foreign affairs. But, no matter. All 3 candidates are interested only in themselves, not the country. Roman emperors. History repeating itself, to the chagrin of people who believe in this country’s principles.
Now now, you know he’s sensitive about his ears!
Toooooooooo funny, Tre, thanks for the chuckles!
Fatman and Little Boy. Say hello to my little friends.
Michelle,
As a 100+ viewer of GF I-III and admitted disciple of Michael, you are right to point out that this clown is wrong on so many levels.
The basic premise of his argument ”
The Don, emblematic of Cold War American power, is struck by forces he did not expect and does not understand”
is, uh, um.. WRONG.
The Don understood all, expect using Mike to kill Sollazo and the Capt.
Kurgan
lol. Best post ever Michelle.
ALamedaman, this one is See-Dubya’s post.