By Greg Smith

Political speech is a tricky business. What electrifies one day often sounds tired the next. This pantheon of overuse now includes the phrase “the wrong side of history.” Recently applied to gay marriage, it is now part of the discussion over Ukraine, uttered both by President Obama and now America’s U.N. ambassador Samantha Power.

The situation calls for grand, sweeping rhetoric, but not a phrase you are also applying to domestic policies, and certainly not a generic argument lacking a clear plan to act.

Vladimir Putin’s view of history is the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a tragic mistake. Frankly, the Obama administration’s response is putting the matter of where history will wind up in question. One thing is for certain, Obama and Power are on the wrong side of oratory.  ©

Greg Smith is a freelance writer and political consultant who lives in Bantam, CT. His blog is found at http://www.betterfatthanfascist.com

(Author’s note: This blog was intended to cover a healthy dose of domestic as well as foreign policies, but the events in Ukraine are serious. The sidetrack is temporary. Thank you for participating.)