Health care reform wasn’t President Obama’s Waterloo, it was his Borodino! William Kristol explains:
Barack Obama was able to muscle his health care plan through, and therefore avoided a legislative defeat that Sen. Jim DeMint had said would be his Waterloo. But Waterloo was always an imperfect analogy. Leaving aside the injustice to Napoleon of comparing Obama to him, the better analogy is Borodino.
“But,” you say, “Borodino? Um, huh? What’s that?”
Kristol elucidates:
Napoleon invaded Russia in June of 1812. On September 7 of that year, the Grande Armée under Napoleon’s command attacked the Russian army near the village of Borodino. Napoleon won the battle, the greatest of the Russian campaign, but at a terrible cost–about a third of his soldiers were killed or wounded. The Russian army was not destroyed, and while Napoleon occupied an abandoned Moscow a week later, the French army was never the same. It soon had to begin its disastrous winter retreat from Russia, and Napoleon finally did meet his Waterloo almost three years later.
Credit to the man to reaching back past the political standard issue historical analogies–Pearl Harbor, Munich, Hanoi Jane–but it’s probably a good rule of thumb that if your comparison requires substantial explanation, briefing, and (possibly) footnotes, then it’s not a solid one. Having said that, the Obama-as-Napoleon meme is quite widespread on the right, and is taking shape as the same sort of secret code that the Dred Scott case was for President Bush. The comparison is, at least explicitly, non-racial, and makes Obama aloof, imperial, and above all, French. We should probably not mention that Napoleon, despite his eventual exile, did succeed in remaking French society in numerous way, an influence that has lasted to this day.
The Edge of the American West 
48 comments
March 22, 2010 at 10:04 am
Fats Durston
Should we be thankful they haven’t called it his Isandlwana or Adowa? No wait, those would require even more footnotes…
March 22, 2010 at 10:17 am
Erik Lund
Wait. _Obama_ is the tired old leader who has betrayed all of his declared convictions in his inability to end sterile ideological strife?
Clearly, health care reform was the Battle of the Nations, the GOP is Napoleon, and the tea baggers were still in Leipzig when the bridge was brought down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_leipzig
March 22, 2010 at 10:34 am
Jason B.
Congratulations on that Photoshop job–I can’t stop laughing.
March 22, 2010 at 10:35 am
Jason B.
Crap–I should have clicked first. Still, congrats on seeing that the image is amusing. And knowing about it. And . . . yeah.
March 22, 2010 at 10:46 am
Elliott
… but it’s probably a good rule of thumb that if your comparison requires substantial explanation, briefing, and (possibly) footnotes, then it’s not a solid one.
For shame! He made an historical analogy that needed background knowledge! Because clearly, the more understandable a historical comparison is to someone with no historical knowledge, the better it must be.
March 22, 2010 at 10:47 am
rea
More like Marengo, where a mid-battle setback made things look like Napoleon had lost–but of course, the day was saved at the last minute, and Napoleon went on to a series of bigger and better triumphs (up until Borodino, anyway)
March 22, 2010 at 10:53 am
andrew
Maybe it’s more like Solferino.
March 22, 2010 at 10:58 am
Josh
Does that mean somebody out there is dreaming up Chicken Health Care Reform? What would that taste like?
March 22, 2010 at 11:00 am
Ben Alpers
More like Marengo, where a mid-battle setback made things look like Napoleon had lost–but of course, the day was saved at the last minute
…and a delicious chicken dish was born!
March 22, 2010 at 11:06 am
JLR
I’d be surprised if 5% of people knew anything useful about Munich. So what if he whittles it down to 1% with Borodino. I’d hardly let general ignorance deflect me from using a more apt analogy.
Not that this is an apt analogy, but that’s really beside the point.
March 22, 2010 at 11:11 am
Russell60
The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself.
March 22, 2010 at 11:29 am
Vance
It seems to me that he doesn’t really make use of the specific analogy — he might as well have just called it a Pyrrhic victory. But that would have left him with a column inch or two to fill.
March 22, 2010 at 4:20 pm
andrew
Speaking of analogies, are the potential lawsuits against the health care bill similar to the lawsuits against New Deal legislation?
March 22, 2010 at 4:53 pm
foeb
Why, I was thinking of Borodino just the other day, when I got “redoubt” in Boggle.
March 22, 2010 at 4:59 pm
implied otter
Clearly, it WAS Waterloo, but Obama was Wellington and Pelosi was Blücher.
March 22, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Ben Alpers
Or perhaps Obama was Björn and Pelosi was Agnetha.
March 22, 2010 at 5:48 pm
TF Smith
Having to explain a historical analogy is like having to explain a joke…
March 22, 2010 at 6:03 pm
dana
Yeah. I disagree with Elliott upthread. The point of the analogy is to help illustrate or clarify Obama’s new political position. Toward that end, the analogy should not be needlessly obscure. (This one felt like he thought, “Waterloo is a cliche; what else that is French will do?”)
March 22, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Levi Stahl
A coworker and I enjoyed playing all this out today: this was Borodino, so Obama has one bigger faux victory still to come in the taking of Moscow. So he passes a cap-and-trade bill this fall . . . but then the Vistula of November elections wipes out the majority of his forces . . . and he’s impeached in the spring!
But wait! He’s exiled to Hyde Park . . . only to escape and run for the Presidency again in 2012 . . . and win–only to be impeached again, for good, in March of that year!
When you look at it that way, Kristol’s analogy is brilliant!
March 23, 2010 at 1:54 am
SeanH
Healthcare is Obama’s Troy! See, Obama is Agamemnon, and the liberal base is Achilles, and when Obamemnon had to give up Chryseis – the public option – he made Achiliberals give him Briseis – concessions to the insurance industry –
Wait, no, that doesn’t work, because liberals are not to the insurance industry as Achilles is to Briseis. Okay. So.
Obama’s still Agamemnon, but now the insurance industry and Big Pharma are Achilles! And Obama was going to take away their Briseis, which here represents their monopoly, because Apollo – Fox News – sent a plague – the Tea Party! And the only way to alleviate the plague was to give up Chryseis, who is also the public option. All this happened last year, which represents the fact that I have only read Book I of the Iliad and don’t know how all this plays out.
March 23, 2010 at 2:54 am
ajay
Maybe it’s more like Solferino.
A bloody battle which gives rise to massive improvement in health care for millions? I like it.
March 23, 2010 at 3:01 am
silbey
Healthcare is Obama’s Troy
No, I’m sorry, but any analogy which was also a movie with Brad Pitt within recent memory is simply too well known.
March 23, 2010 at 3:27 am
SeanH
I saw that film in the cinema, and don’t remember anything except making a “that still only counts as one” joke when Paris killed Achilles. This may be analogous of the fact that we will have forgotten most of the particulars of this whole thing within a few years.
March 23, 2010 at 8:15 am
AYY
“. . . massive improvement in health care for millions? I like it.”
You might not like it so much once it takes effect.
I’d say it’s more like Operation Barbarossa–a few quick victories, overconfidence, supply lines get overextended, so the population gets robbed, and then 40-50 years of destitution and tyranny, until someone comes along and says “President for Life Obama, Tear Down This ‘Health’ Plan.”
March 23, 2010 at 8:43 am
SeanH
until someone comes along and says “President for Life Obama, Tear Down This ‘Health’ Plan.”
That is how I remember Operation Barbarossa ending, yes.
March 23, 2010 at 8:48 am
Urk
you know, one thing I like about EOTW is that, since it’s not strictly political site, it usually attracts interesting and colorful trolls. You’re not one of those AYY, you’re just peddling the same ill-informed hyperbolic crap that makes my brain hurt when I read the comments at Drum’s site, or TPM. Can we switch you out for a the last confederate army holdout, or someone else that’s wrong in a more interesting manner?
March 23, 2010 at 9:56 am
ajay
Maybe it’s his March to the Sea. Immensely successful and changes politics forever, but in a hundred and fifty years’ time the rednecks are still going to be grumbling about it.
March 23, 2010 at 10:08 am
JJO
Yeah, that’s definitely not how I remember Barbarella ending!
(Sorry — so worn out by the whole process that I have nothing to contribute by stupid jokes.)
March 23, 2010 at 10:09 am
JJO
but stupid jokes. You can decide if I have anything to contribute by stupid jokes.
March 23, 2010 at 10:11 am
silbey
you know, one thing I like about EOTW is that, since it’s not strictly political site, it usually attracts interesting and colorful trolls
Dammit, our trolls are slipping. Where does one go to order a better class?
March 23, 2010 at 10:16 am
Ralph Hitchens
Personally I think Gettysburg is a better analogy. The pro-slavery forces invade the heartland of “social justice” and then fritter away their weaker forces in hopeless frontal attacks which the cumbersome and hesitant majority manages to deflect, one by one, until their greater head count finally prevails. And everyone knows the secessionists would have been better served by making peace with a conciliatory Lincoln at the outset.
March 23, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Michael Bérubé
You laugh now. Just wait until 2011, when the Republicans push Obama-Xerxes back over the Dardanelles.
March 23, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Walt
I think a better analogy is the episode of My Little Pony where the Pegasus ponies (the American people) were too shy to come to the party (support health care reform) thrown for them by the ponies of Ponyville (the Democrats) until they found out there was ice cream (the provisions of the health care reform bill).
March 23, 2010 at 2:42 pm
SeanH
Surprised I haven’t seen more Thermopylae analogies from the right, actually – that’s more their sort of thing, isn’t it?
silbey: Boring trolls here are an analogy for the way the healthcare debate became really unproductive really quickly.
March 23, 2010 at 10:09 pm
AYY
“That is how I remember Operation Barbarossa ending, yes”
If you look at the big picture it did end that way. Although there were 40-50 years of destitution and tyranny before it happened.
“since it’s not strictly political site, it usually attracts interesting and colorful trolls. You’re not one of those AYY, you’re just peddling the same ill-informed hyperbolic crap that makes my brain hurt when I read the comments at Drum’s site, or TPM.”
And what “ill informed hyperbolic crap” might you be referring to? And if the comments at Drum’s site or TPM make your brain hurt that’s unfortunate, but on the same token the comments there would make anyone’s brain hurt. Sometimes I think they’re supposed to make your whole head hurt.
And I don’t know what you think a “troll” is, but you don’t become one simply by pointing out problems with the group-think attitude that has pervaded some of the recent threads. If you want someone more interesting and colorful that’s fine. (I’d also like someone better than me.) But then I get to ask for someone more interesting and colorful than you.
March 23, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Walt
There are many other blogs that are more interesting and colorful, AYY. I encourage you to go find them.
March 24, 2010 at 3:01 am
ajay
Just wait until 2011, when the Republicans push Obama-Xerxes back over the Dardanelles.
Victory for the Tea Spartans!
March 24, 2010 at 3:03 am
ajay
I’d say it’s more like Operation Barbarossa–a few quick victories, overconfidence, supply lines get overextended, so the population gets robbed, and then 40-50 years of destitution and tyranny, until someone comes along and says “President for Life Obama, Tear Down This ‘Health’ Plan.”
I admire, incidentally, the way in which this analogy swaps sides mid-sentence. As it starts, Obama is Hitler – by clause 4 or so, he’s Stalin!
March 24, 2010 at 4:00 am
silbey
group-think attitude that has pervaded some of the recent threads
I think you will note that our group-think attitude has been entirely consistent since the beginning of this blog, thank you.
March 24, 2010 at 6:15 am
Fats Durston
As it starts, Obama is Hitler – by clause 4 or so, he’s Stalin!
Sheesh, ajay, read your Loadpants.
And what “ill informed hyperbolic crap” might you be referring to?
Yes, “President for Life Obama” is well informed hyperbolic crap.
I’m gonna go back to Khartoum, you silly classicists. Lt. Cmdr “Vietnamese” McCain was General “Chinese” Gordon all over again, and Obama is obviously the Mahdi (Muslim, “the one,” need I say more?). HCR is Omdurman, ACORN the fuzzy wuzzies, and, um, Glenn Beck is Kitchener?
March 24, 2010 at 6:25 am
rea
Of course there’s group think here–it’s a group blog!
March 24, 2010 at 7:34 am
Urk
Fair enough AAY, I’m not suggesting that I bring anything stellar to the comments myself. And I love a well-reasoned disagreement, or even a clever, snarky disagreement, or even a quick and insightful skewering of conventional wisdom. But when I see “40-50 years of destitution and tyranny” (esp. the “tyranny” part) and “President for Life Obama,” well, my hyperbolic crap-o-meter goes off. it’s this kind of rhetoric that led me to label you a troll, not the fact of your disagreement.
March 24, 2010 at 7:53 am
AaLD
I admire, incidentally, the way in which this analogy swaps sides mid-sentence. As it starts, Obama is Hitler – by clause 4 or so, he’s Stalin!
And he ends up as Gorbachev.
But when I see “40-50 years of destitution and tyranny” (esp. the “tyranny” part) and “President for Life Obama,” well, my hyperbolic crap-o-meter goes off.
I think it set off every Hyperbolic Crap-o-Meter (TM) on the block.
March 24, 2010 at 8:09 am
AYY
“Yes, “President for Life Obama” is well informed hyperbolic crap.”
When I see the type of praise that has been bestowed on Obama in the past two threads, and you couple that with the on-bended- knee attitude of academia and the media, and the videos of the school children singing the praises of Obama, then it’s fair to say there’s a cult of personality issue that needs to be addressed.
“I think you will note that our group-think attitude has been entirely consistent since the beginning of this blog, thank you.”
Can’t imagine that anyone would want that, so I guess the “thank you” was for breaking the pattern. If the commenters and posters are, by reflex, praising Obama and Pelosi, without discussing whether the plan is a good idea, what it will cost, whether it will lead to rationing, what effect it will have on jobs, etc. then it helps the blog to have someone raising that point.
When the comments on the last two threads started without anyone being the slightest bit critical of the posts, I could not remain silent. It would have been irresponsible.
March 24, 2010 at 8:39 am
ajay
If the commenters and posters are, by reflex, praising Obama and Pelosi, without discussing whether the plan is a good idea, what it will cost, whether it will lead to rationing, what effect it will have on jobs, etc. then it helps the blog to have someone raising that point.
Yes, $940 billion over ten years, no, and no significant effect that I’m aware of, respectively.
Happy now?
March 24, 2010 at 9:14 am
Urk
“the type of praise that has been bestowed on Obama in the past two threads”
–is part of how Obama gets talked about around here. Lots of disappointment too, over the last year or so. but yes, for two threads in a row, most comments were generally favorable, following something getting done that the people commenting viewed favorably.
“…you couple that with the on-bended- knee attitude of academia and the media”
—cite? examples? or is this more hyperbolic crap? And are “academia” and “the media” really monolithic entities? There are plenty of lefty academics who already consider Obama a Republican-lite sellout. There’s been plenty of water-carrying for congressional Republican obstructionism in most of the media I’ve consumed.
“the videos of the school children singing the praises of Obama”
—which videos? Anyway, kids like him. Grownups, who kids take their cues from, like him. He was elected by a huge majority.
“I could not remain silent. It would have been irresponsible.”
–Really, you flatter yourself here. This “cult of personality” nonsense reads like you just woke up, realized that the country elected, and has great affection for a President that you don’t like. Believe me, I sympathize. It’s been that way for me most of my life. Just try to stay away from conspiracy theories and chicken-little rhetoric, you’ll have less to feel silly about later.
March 24, 2010 at 9:25 am
dana
Alright, I think there’s enough been done. Principle #4325: those who start with crying about death panels are surprisingly not worth engaging.
March 24, 2010 at 1:12 pm
silbey
When the comments on the last two threads started without anyone being the slightest bit critical of the posts
I have no earthly clue what you’re talking about. How should people have been critical of my post? “Yes, Borodino is a good analogy and not at all obscure like you make it out to be! Lots of people have read the historiography on Borodino in the original Russian. How dare you think that the American public isn’t familiar with September 7, 1812!”
Dana’s right. I think we’ve finished this conversation.