The Real Effects of Hitlerism

Awhile ago I queried what it must be like for a Nazi survivor or a survivor’s relative to witness the belittling of Nazi autrocities with ignorant invocations of Hitler. Victor Davis Hanson just wrote a masterful piece about the causes and effects of comparing Bush to Hitler. I suggest you read it all. After delving into the reasons for the onslought of recent Bush/Hitler comparisons, VDH discusses the effects:

Is there a danger to all this? Plenty. The slander not only brings a president down to the level of an evil murderer, but — as worried Jewish leaders have pointed out — elevates the architect of genocide to the level of an American president. Do the ghosts of six million that were incinerated — or, for that matter, the tens of millions who were killed to promote or stop Hitler’s madness — count for so little that they can be so promiscuously induced when one wishes to object to stopping the filibuster of senatorial nominations or to ignore the objection of Europeans in removing the fascistic Saddam Hussein?

There is something profoundly immoral for a latte-sipping, upscale Westerner of the postmodern age flippantly evoking Hitler when we think of the countless souls lost to the historical record who were systematically starved and gassed in the factories of death of the Third Reich.

VDH concludes his article with the following point:

The final irony? The president who is most slandered as Hitler will probably prove to be the most zealous advocate of democratic government abroad, the staunchest friend of beleaguered Israel, and the greatest promoter of global individual freedom in our recent memory.

Once there has been sufficient time to allow the opportunistic political winds of passion to die down history will indeed judge Bush as one of the greatest promoters of democracy known to man. Until then, expect his opponents to compare him to the worst humanity has to offer.

UPDATE: Betsy has some thoughts on this too.