apres coup and the Democratic debate

It is interesting how many questions directed to the Democratic "front runners" during Sunday's debate had to do, not so much with what one would do -- the real political question -- but with what one would have done (differently). Not to belittle the importance of consistency, integrity, etc., in political decision making, but the questions that seemed to be pushed most firmly -- and, it should be noted, the ones whiched faced the most resistance and evasion from the candidates -- were the ones that concerned, for instance, Hillary's early support for the Iraq war, her husband's policy of "don't ask, don't tell," what's his names support for the southern border fence. At the basis of these questions: was it a mistake and will you name it as such?

This concern, unfortunately, had nothing to do with memory or "redemption" in Benjamin's sense -- there was no concern with bringing the past into a new constellation and presenting a new political possiblity now.