Posted on 09/10/2008 4:01:03 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
The candidacy of Barack Obama seems to have lost some of its luster of late, and I suspect this has something to do with large questions many Americans still harbor about his view of the dangerous world around us. Those questions were not stilled by the choice of Joe Biden as his running mate.
To be sure, the Delaware senator is a man of unfailing decency and deep legislative experience; and his foreign policy preferences are reflective of the liberal internationalist outlook that once prevailed in the Democratic Party. To his honor and good name, Sen. Biden took a leading role in pushing for the use of American military power in the Balkans when the Muslims of Bosnia were faced with grave dangers a dozen years ago. Patriotism does not embarrass this man in the way it does so many in the liberal elite. But as Bob Woodward is the latest to remind us, it is presidents, not their understudies, who shape the destiny of nations.
So the Obama candidacy must be judged on its own merits, and it can be reckoned as the sharpest break yet with the national consensus over American foreign policy after World War II. This is not only a matter of Sen. Obama's own sensibility; the break with the consensus over American exceptionalism and America's claims and burdens abroad is the choice of the activists and elites of the Democratic Party who propelled Mr. Obama's rise.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Yep! Go out there and subdivide Iraq into three warring factions, just like Berlin and then wait around for a ‘Ronaldus Maximus’ to clean up the mess.
OK, Biden wrong in the Balkans, wrong in Iraq - great choice.
I’ve seen the author of this article, Fouad Ajami, on the “News Hour With Jim Leher: a number of times. He is originally from Egypt. On the “News Hour,” he is nuanced, but in this article he takes a more clearly stated position.
excellent article from the thoughtful Ajami.
Mr Ajami is a Shiite Lebanese of Iranian parentage who is head of Johns Hopkins Middle East Studies department. He has been an advisor to the Bush admin and has written some excellent books (Dream Palace of the Arabs). He was very supportive of the Iraq War even in its darkest days.
Thank you for the correction.
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