15 Sep 2011

Obama at Stalingrad

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James Carville

Democrat party strategist James Carville is upset, and is offering some characteristically unvarnished Carvellian advice to the Obama political team. (CNN:)

People often ask me what advice I would give the White House about various things. Today I was mulling over election results from New York and Nevada while thinking about that very question. What should the White House do now? One word came to mind: Panic.

We are far past sending out talking points. Do not attempt to dumb it down. We cannot stand any more explanations. Have you talked to any Democratic senators lately? I have. It’s pretty damn clear they are not happy campers.

This is what I would say to President Barack Obama: The time has come to demand a plan of action that requires a complete change from the direction you are headed.

I don’t know how else to break this down. Simply put:

.. Fire somebody. No — fire a lot of people. This may be news to you but this is not going well. For precedent, see Russian Army 64th division at Stalingrad. There were enough deaths at Stalingrad to make the entire tea party collectively orgasm.

Mr. President, your hinge of fate must turn.

Mr. Carville must have actually been referring to Vasily Chuikov‘s 64th Army (subsequently redesignated the 7th Guards Army) which played a key role in the Battle of Stalingrad and which developed the tactic of fighting the Germans from as physically close a position as possible, “hugging the enemy,” as a means of neutralizing German advantages in firepower and combined arms tactics.

It is unclear whether Carville is advocating some innovative democrat political strategy be developed to neutralize Republican advantages resulting from the failure of President Obama’s economic policies and public dislike of Obamacare, or whether Mr. Carville is really simply trying to compare Barack Obama’s unhappy political prospects to the German disaster at Stalingrad, mistakenly referring to one of the best-known Soviet military formations instead of Army Group B, the actual loser.

The substance of Carville’s advice to Obama is to go on a PR offensive, firing scapegoats from within the Administration, create additional scapegoats to sacrifice by indicting businessmen supposedly responsible for the real estate bubble, and fight harder by repeating the democrat left’s talking points louder and more insistently.

The correct comparison would really be that of James Carville and the progressive left (that is so passionately demanding that somebody else keep fighting) with Hitler, and of Barack Obama (who has found himself in a hopeless position after faithfully following their orders) with General Paulus.

Russian soldiers at Stalingrad

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Walt Green

I think he meant the German 6th Army, which was surrounded and defeated at Stalingrad.



whosebone

I’m with Walt on this one, I don’t get the connection with the 64th division Army, he had to mean the German 6th. In fact, the 64th was pushed back all the way into the city by the German’s and didn’t have the great success that the Northern divisions did, so it doesn’t make sense any other way.



Keir

I was hoping someone could explain the Stalingrad reference as well. I doubt Obama would be well advised to study the von Paulus’s 6th Army…



jj

64th got their asses handed to them … like Obama’s getting his ass handed to him

He should do as Clinton — work with the Republicans not the Democrats , otherwise , one-term president’s like Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter will be happy to have him join their club of failure



Dustin

I Figured Carville was referencing the formation (I’m not sure which one) which had one out of every ten men randomly executed in order to make everyone “fall in line.”



Gary P

Gotta weigh in– there was a Russian 64th Army led by Chuikov, pushed aside with heavy casualties in the German 6th Army’s rapid push to Stalingrad (“from the Don to the Volga in one day!”) Chuikov was moved to the 62nd Army, which was charged with the defense of Stalingrad. Everything else is basically correct– Chuikov’s ‘hug the Germans’ strategy, etc. The 62nd Army did it’s job admirably. Fought the Germans every step, almost losing the city, they were fought to the banks of the Volga. Then the Russians counterattacked with a million men 50 miles out and surrounded the whole mess in a “ring of steel”. Germans were too distracted to notice this huge buildup.



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