I don’t know what Barack Obama, Senate Republicans, or Sarah Palin are saying about the situation in Libya.
But I know what Emily Litella, Gilda Radner’s character on Saturday Night Live, would be saying:
“What’s all the fuss about a Libyan vacuum? I didn’t even know Libyans made a vacuum — I thought the Chinese made all the vacuums. Or the South Koreans. Now, there’s a well-made vacuum. It’s got great suction, an extra large canister, tons of attachments . . . .”
There is no vacuum to be filled. Gaddafi, and other autocrats in the Middle East and North Africa, have long insisted that the only alternative to their governance is the opening of a power vacuum that would inevitably be filled by terrorists and radical Islamists. These autocrats have convinced their peoples and Western political leaders of their purported indispensability to the furtherance of peace and stability in the region. It has taken the (literally death defying) courage of the protesters in Tunisia, Egypt and Lybia to expose the West’s complicity in their oppression. These brave people are now the creators and defenders of their freedom. It is not a vacuum they have filled. They have earned the right to self-rule, and they will not allow any group to hijack their freedom.