On the permissibility of using Mao as an example...

By now, I assume you have heard about White House Communications Director Anita Dunn's speech in front of some school children in which she used Mao as an example for ignoring outside detractors and  "fighting your own war" to a successful conclusion on your terms.

Here's an excerpt of her quote:

“The third lesson and tip actually comes from two of my favorite political philosophers, Mao Tse-Tung and Mother Teresa. Not often coupled with each other, but the two people that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is: You’re going to make choices. . . . But here’s the deal: These are your choices; they are no one else’s. In 1947, when Mao Tse-Tung was being challenged within his own party on his own plan to basically take China over, Chiang Kai-Shek and the nationalist Chinese held the cities, they had the army. . . . They had everything on their side. And people said ‘How can you win . . . ? How can you do this against all of the odds against you?’ And Mao Tse-Tung says, ‘You fight your war and I’ll fight mine . . . ’ You don’t have to accept the definition of how to do things. . . . You fight your war, you let them fight theirs. Everybody has their own path.”

As far as the logic of her point goes (ie Mao certainly didn't listen to all the people who said he couldn't achieve), obviously her point stands.

Even so, it is a bit shocking to me that a senior White House figure would list a mass-murdering sociopath like Mao as "one of her favorite political philsophers." And whether or not her statement makes logical sense, it seems to me in poor taste to use a mass-murderer as one of two examples of people who more or less lived their dream on their own terms.

Mark Steyn captures better than I thoughts on these two ideas. You can read his recent column on it here.