Fighter pilot John Boyd theorized that it is possible, in combat, to act so fast that an adversary doesn't have time to formulate and execute a response to your actions. An adversary in that circumstance grows disoriented and ineffective. Boyd's construct was something called the OODA Loop -- "OODA" standing for observe, orient, decide and act. Get inside someone's OODA Loop and it renders them disfunctional, since they're reacting to cricumstances that no longer exist. Often as not, flummoxed enemy pilots don't need to be shot down because they simply crash and burn.
I bring this up because I just saw Pat Buchanan on television, complaining that the Obama White House is spending too much time screwing around with Rush Limbaugh and not enough time on serious business. Buchanan, apparently outraged at the playing of politics, was arguing that the President needed to do more.
The President has done a lot in a short time, of course, and does more every day -- absolutely none of which has been to Buchanan's liking. But there Buchanan was, on TV demanding that the President do more of the stuff of which Buchanan disapproves.
This last few weeks has been amazing. We're really watching the self-destruction of a political party, and they have no idea what's going on. Like a disoriented fighter pilot, the Republicans have no idea where the ground is.
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