There is no 'right side of history'

David Ignatius:
President Obama has spoken once again during the Ukraine crisis about being on the right "side of history."

It's one of his signature lines, but he should stop: The phrase implies there's an inevitability to the advance of progress and justice. Would that it were so.

What's happening now in Vladimir Putin's Russia is a reminder that history has ebbs and flows, advances and retreats, and that its interpretation is subjective.

Even more, recent events are a warning that decisive turns in history can result from ruthless political leaders, from weak or confused adversaries, or sometimes just from historical accident. Might doesn't make right, but it does create "facts on the ground" that are hard to reverse.
...
Ignatius is a center left writer who at least grasps history.  I don't think Obama really studied history and he does not show much understanding of it.  His "right side of history" phrase sounds like something from a leftist faculty nerd instead of someone with an understanding of power and those who want more of it.

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