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Chicago Tribune columnist and Obama critic John Kass suggests our new President is peddling "hopium," defined as irrational and useless hope.
In militaries, "hope" is defined as "morale." Good morale does not necessarily win battles. The sailors at Pearl Harbor in the pre-dawn hours of December 7 had high morale. They lost.
But the French army of 1940 had low morale, and they fell apart like a cheap suit in a washing machine. Ditto the Iraqi army of 2003 - an army that took away all white clothing from their soldiers in an attempt to prevent mass surrenders.
So Kass is right - hope is no substitute for hard work.
But people with hope work a hell of a lot harder then folks with no hope.
In militaries, "hope" is defined as "morale." Good morale does not necessarily win battles. The sailors at Pearl Harbor in the pre-dawn hours of December 7 had high morale. They lost.
But the French army of 1940 had low morale, and they fell apart like a cheap suit in a washing machine. Ditto the Iraqi army of 2003 - an army that took away all white clothing from their soldiers in an attempt to prevent mass surrenders.
So Kass is right - hope is no substitute for hard work.
But people with hope work a hell of a lot harder then folks with no hope.