The Bush Doctrine is alive and well.
By Ted Belman
I have been writing for some time now that Obama’s foreign policy will be much the same as that of Bush.
Now Commentary Magazine just published The Doctrine of Fakism in which they take note of the platitudes in speeches given by Obama and Hillary about Interdependence, diplomacy, cooperative engagement, multi-national consensus, “replacing military solutions.” and put the lie to it.
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[Simultaneously],Vice President-elect Joe Biden was in Iraq reassuring leadership in Baghdad that “the new administration will stick to the timetable in the [U.S.- Iraq status of forces] agreement,” and keep American troops in Iraq for at least three more years, if not much longer.
And how un-diplomatic was Joe Biden’s message of the following day. He told Barack Obama that things in Afghanistan will get worse before they get better, as Americans are soon to see an increase in the fighting. All this hardly seems like a new direction designed to highlight the “leading role of diplomacy.”
That’s because the most distinguishing feature of the new mushy realism is that it’s shamelessly fake. Hillary Clinton couldn’t possibly believe that, “The best way to advance America’s interest in reducing global threats and seizing global opportunities is to design and implement global solutions,” because she can’t even explain what that means. Barack Obama does not believe (at least not now) that Iran can be talked out of the bomb any more than he intends to “end” the Iraq War, and John Kerry doesn’t think, “we have an opportunity to reshape the way the United States does business with the world.” These fakists have settled on a language to use in public and this is it. Global, interconnected, diplomatic, sustainable, endurable, smart, multilateral, non-ideological. You know — Obamese. The biggest change Barack Obama has brought to American politics is linguistic. Leaders are now required to create cuddly, meaningless word salads while continuing the implementation of aggressive policies.
The Bush Doctrine is alive and well. This is because George W. Bush was not, as Clinton and Kerry imply, too blinded by ideology to be pragmatic.
The article doesn’t comment on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict but I submit it applies equally as well, there.
The point is America’s values and interests are too different from the rest of the world for it to love America. There will be a temporary burst of Obama euphoria from Europe and the Middle East but after awhile reality will soon set in. America’s foreign policy may change in rhetoric but in substance it will be the same as it has always been. So if America’s adversaries are counting on America to stop being America, they’re in for a long wait.
Comment by NormanF — January 16, 2009 @ 1:08 pm
Good, let’s hope the moveon, dailykos crowd is about to get thrown under the bus.
Comment by Laura — January 16, 2009 @ 5:27 pm
Excuse me, Bush is begining to make J Carter look better.
Comment by yamit82 — January 17, 2009 @ 9:53 am