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- from a neoconservative perspective! - Keeping an eye on the communist-left so you don't have to!
McCain didn't say anything there that others, including President Obama, haven't.
Thanks for the indirect link to the Thomas Ricks pieces in Foreign Policy, though ("ICP" link). I'd missed them, but they sum up the difference between those who seem to care more about feeling good about themselves & their country (& tearing down the president, of course), and those who understand that foreign policy isn't an international soccer tournament, and the words an American President speaks can have consequences, good or bad...
I'm the first to admit that I don't know myself where the line is between full-throated support for freedom and democracy, on one hand, and making the situation worse for the protesters in Iraq and for US foreign policy in the region, on the other. But I am pretty sure it's naive to pretend that there isn't such a line...
When I look at the people suggesting one kind of response over the other, it seems like it's mostly politicians and partisans who want more "fire and brimstone," and mostly diplomats and experts who think Obama's done the right thing up to now... To me, that says alot...
Only American presidents who believe in true freedom would speak out early and often in situation such as this.
Obama's embarrassing near-silence in all this has been most enlightening, and in more than just one area.
I am not sure even Jihad Jimmy himself would have managed to mishandle this nearly as badly as the grossly incompetent and dangerously naive Obama has.
McCain didn't say anything there that others, including President Obama, haven't.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the indirect link to the Thomas Ricks pieces in Foreign Policy, though ("ICP" link). I'd missed them, but they sum up the difference between those who seem to care more about feeling good about themselves & their country (& tearing down the president, of course), and those who understand that foreign policy isn't an international soccer tournament, and the words an American President speaks can have consequences, good or bad...
I'm the first to admit that I don't know myself where the line is between full-throated support for freedom and democracy, on one hand, and making the situation worse for the protesters in Iraq and for US foreign policy in the region, on the other. But I am pretty sure it's naive to pretend that there isn't such a line...
When I look at the people suggesting one kind of response over the other, it seems like it's mostly politicians and partisans who want more "fire and brimstone," and mostly diplomats and experts who think Obama's done the right thing up to now... To me, that says alot...
Of course, ymmv...
Only American presidents who believe in true freedom would speak out early and often in situation such as this.
ReplyDeleteObama's embarrassing near-silence in all this has been most enlightening, and in more than just one area.
I am not sure even Jihad Jimmy himself would have managed to mishandle this nearly as badly as the grossly incompetent and dangerously naive Obama has.
-Dave