Charles Krauthammer
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Charles Krauthammer (born March 13, 1950), is an American syndicated conservative columnist who appears in the Washington Post, Time Magazine as well as other publications.
Career
Krauthammer was born in New York City to Jewish parents, but raised in Montreal before returning to the United States. Commonly referred to as "Charlie" during his childhood, he was the younger of the two children in his family, with an older brother Marcel.Krauthammer obtained a first-class honors degree in political science and economics from McGill University in 1970, and was a Commonwealth Scholar in politics at Balliol College, Oxford 1970-71. In his freshman year at Harvard Medical School in 1972, he was paralyzed in a serious diving accident [A Man for All Seasons] by Charles Krauthammer, Jewish World Review, August 28, 2000. Continuing medical training during his rehabilitation, he earned an M.D. from Harvard University's medical school in 1975, and worked as a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital. During this time Krauthammer and colleague Gerald L. Klerman published research describing secondary mania as a psychiatric syndrome with multiple causes.
In 1978, Krauthammer quit medical practice to direct planning in psychiatric research for the Jimmy Carter administration, and began contributing to the magazine The New Republic.
During the presidential campaign of 1980, Krauthammer served ably as a speech writer to Vice President Walter Mondale. In 1985, he wrote one of his most influential essays, "The Reagan Doctrine,"[The Reagan Doctrine] by Charles Krauthammer, TIME, April 1, 1985 which first introduced that term. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for commentary.
He writes op-ed columns for the Washington Post, essays for TIME and the Weekly Standard and is a regular member of "The Panel" on Fox News's Special Report with Brit Hume and often appears as a Fox News Contributor.
Opinions
The \"Unipolar World\"
Krauthammer is a defender of unilateralism and maintains that as a superpower, the U.S. should assert its positions and invite others to join. He believes that, "the notion that legitimacy derives from international consensus," is a political absurdity in what he calls the, "unipolar world," dominated by US foreign policy [American Unilateralism], a transcript of a speach by Charles Krauthammer, Revista Guaracabuya, December 4, 2002. In 2002, Krauthammer articulated "a new type of realism" :
- "Unilateralism is the high road to multilateralism [...] No one wants to be left on the dock when the hegemon is sailing." [A New Type of Realism] by Charles Krauthammer, The National Interest, Winter 2002/2003
Democratic realism
In May 2004 Krauthammer gave a speech to the American Enterprise Institute titled "Democratic Realism", subtitled "An American Foreign Policy for a Unipolar World" [Democratic Realism; An American Foreign Policy for a Unipolar World] by Charles Krauthammer, American Enterprise Institute, 2004 (PDF) . He advocated a combination of realist and neoconservative foreign policy stances as the best way to defend American interests and spread democracy. Krauthammer's essay defending his theory against the criticism of Francis Fukuyama appeared in the Fall 2004 issue of The National Interest.In early 2006 Fukuyama pointedly distanced himself from the war, noting that Krauthammer was a key supporter of the war, and citing the "Democratic Realism" speech. Fukuyama, however, also claimed that Krauthammer referred to the Iraq war as "a virtually unqualified success" in that same speech. Krauthammer does not deny having been a supporter of the war, but vigorously denied Fukuyama's other claim [Fukuyama's fantasy] by Charles Krauthammer, Jewish World Review, March 28, 2006, asserting that he was never sure that the Iraq War would succeed, only that such wars are the best means available, since diplomacy or other means were almost bound to be useless.
Krauthammer has written in opposition to the Clinton Doctrine, which advocated U.S. humanitarian intervention in troubled regions of the world, even if there is no significant strategic interest involved. The Clinton administration applied this policy to Bosnia and Kosovo in the '90s, where a U.S.-led NATO intervened to end ethnic cleansing and violence. In a 1999 Time Magazine article, Krauthammer wrote:
- "The essence of foreign policy is deciding which son of a bitch to support and which to oppose--in 1941, Hitler or Stalin; in 1972, Brezhnev or Mao; in 1979, Somoza or Ortega. One has to choose. A blanket anti-son of a bitch policy, like a blanket anti-ethnic cleansing policy, is soothing, satisfying and empty. It is not a policy at all but righteous self-delusion." [The Clinton Doctrine] by Charles Krauthammer, CNN.com, March 29, 1999
President's Council on Bioethics
Appointed to the President George W. Bush's President's Council on Bioethics in 2002, Krauthammer has opposed human experimentation, human cloning and euthanasia [Krauthammer: The Great Stem Cell Hoax] by Charles Krauthammer, Weekly Standard, August 13, 2001] but supports relaxing the Bush administration's limits on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research [Cell Lines, Moral Lines; Research Should Expand -- With a Key Limit] by Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, Friday, August 5, 2005.Krauthammer may have a unique perspective on stem cell research, being a paraplegic himself. A fellow member of the Council, Janet D. Rowley, insists that Krauthammer's vision is still an issue far in the future and not a topic to be discussed at the present time [Bush's Advisers on Ethics Discuss Human Cloning] by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, January 18, 2002, yet many council members tend to agree with Krauthammer.
Religion
Krauthammer is a critic of Intelligent Design, writing several articles in 2005 likening it to "tarted-up creationism" [Phony Theory, False Conflict; 'Intelligent Design' Foolishly Pits Evolution Against Faith] by Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, November 18, 2005.He has also received a number of awards for his commentary related to religion, including the People for the American Way’s First Amendment Award for his New Republic essay "America's Holy Wars." [Charles Krauthammer to Receive 2004 Irving Kristol Award], American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, October 1, 2003 in 1985, and the Guardian of Zion Award of Bar-Ilan University in 2002 [Charles Krauthammer: A Pen in Defense of Zion] by Bret Stephens, Jerusalem Post, June 13, 2002
The Miers nomination
Many conservatives criticized President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to succeed Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, including Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer called the nomination of Miers a "mistake" on several occasions. He noted her lack of constitutional experience as the main obstacle to her nomination.On October 21st, 2005, Charles Krauthammer published, "Miers: The Only Exit Strategy" [Miers: The Only Exit Strategy] by Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, October 12, 2006 in which he explained that all of Miers' relevant constitutional writings are protected by both attorney/client privilege and executive privilege. The only face-saving solution to the "mistake" would be "Miers withdraws out of respect for both the Senate and the executive's prerogatives".
On October 27th, 2005, Miers withdrew her nomination for the Supreme Court. Her reason : "It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House—disclosures that would undermine a president's ability to receive candid counsel."
Israel
Krauthammer has been a defender of the right-wing Likud party in Israel, though he is more likely to support the centrist Kadima party as he is generally in favor of withdrawal. He believes in the importance of a barrier between the two states' final borders as an important element of any peace. In a July, 2006 essay in Time magazine, Mr. Krauthammer asserted that the Israel-Palestine conflict was fundamentally defined by the Palestinians' unwillingness to accept comprimise. He rejects the "cycle of violence" model for an "arrow" that is shot by Palestinians with Israel as its target. Breaking away from views held by some of the US's most conservative commentators such as Robert Novak and Pat Buchanan, he assigns most of the blame on the Palestinians.On Torture
In a December 2005 article in the Weekly Standard [The Truth about Torture] by Charles Krauthammer, Weekly Standard, December 5, 2005, Krauthammer argues that any ban of torture must entail at least two exceptions. He claims that in both the situation of imminent danger ("ticking bomb scenario"), and in the case of a high-level terrorist deeply involved in the planning of future attacks, the moral calculus not only allows, but mandates the use of torture, if it is believed that torture can procure life-saving information.This column appeared in the controversy surrounding Senator John McCain's proposed ban on torture in an Amendment on (1) the Army Field Manual and (2) Cruel, Inhumane, Degrading Treatment [McCain Statement on Detainee Amendments (Press Release)], U.S. Senator John McCain's Website, October 5, 2005. Many pundits wrote on this issue; Andrew Sullivan's article in the New Republic was seen as a counter to Krauthammer's Weekly Standard piece. (see also: The Abolition of Torture by Andrew Sullivan [The Abolition of Torture] by Andrew Sullivan, The New Republic, December 7, 2005, Michael Kinsley in Slate Magazine [Torture for Dummies; Exploding the "ticking bomb" argument] by Michael Kinsley, Slate, December 13, 2005, the Wall Street Journal op-ed [Tortuous Progress], Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2005)
On Neoconservatism
Krauthammer wrote in a high profile piece in Commentary that "above all", neoconservativism "is the maturation of a governing ideology whose time has come." The original "fathers of neoconservatism" were "former liberals or leftists". More recently, they have been joined by "realists, newly mugged by reality", such as Condoleezza Rice, Richard Cheney and George W. Bush, who have "have given weight to neoconservatism, making it more diverse and, given the newcomers’ past experience, more mature." The "Bush Doctrine", according to Krauthammer, is essentially, "a synonym for neoconservative foreign policy." [The Neoconservative Convergence], Charles Krauthammer, Commentary, July-August 2005 issue (reprinted by Front Page Magazine), accessed June 30 2006Francis Fukuyama, who describes himself as of Spring 2006, as a former neoconservative, has been critical of Krauthammer, whom Fukuyama associates with the neoconservative movement, for Krauthammer's support and positive portrayal of the Iraq War. [Neo-Con No More], Paul Berman, New York Times, March 26 2006, accessed June 20 2006 Krauthammer has responded to Fukuyama denounciation of neoconservatism and of his criticism of Krauthammer by accusing him of fabrication. [Fukuyama's Fantasy], Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, March 28, 2006, accessed June 30 2006
References
External links
- [Charles Krauthammer's Weekly Column in the Washington Post]
- [Charles Krauthammer Archives at Jewish World Review]
- [Krauthammer's profile in Right Web]
- [Today's most ardent American imperialists weren't born in the USA.] by Jeet Hee.
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