Nixon's Final Words

TIME Magazine ^ | May 2, 1994 | Richard Nixon

[Eva]

I am not sure that Nixon had all the correct answers, but he sure had all the problems. This article could have been a cheat sheet for the Clinton administration.

I thought it was interesting, since Ari is about to give Clinton a flunking grade in foreign relations.

[TheHeterodoxConservative]

"There is a world of difference between campaigning and governing."

Clinton never did figure that out.

[Eva]

I was struck by the way Nixon had Clinton all figured out, so early in Clinton's administration. It's too bad that we, the public, did not pay closer attention.

[Cicero]

We cannot react to every emergency call like an international 911 operator. But we must respond to those that affect our vital interests in the world.

I thought this was the essential point, although Nixon has much else of interest to tell us here. Clinton's foreign policy is a case study in how not to fight wars. Every conflict he involved us in was either pointless or fought on the wrong side. That's what happens when your foreign policy is run on a basis of blinkered political correctness, popularity polls, and wagging the dog to take people's minds off serial misbehavior in office.

Nixon was a serious statesman. Clinton was a clown by comparison. I think Nixon misreads the Yugoslavian situation here, but that was before things unfolded. If he had been in charge he would have quickly changed course according to our national interest, which, as he says, must always be the first consideration.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

great post

[Eva]

Thanks and a bump.

[Eva]

It's really interesting, isn't it? This could be used as a blueprint for the evaluation Clinton's legacy and it was written in 1994, only halfway through Clinton's first term.

[Verginius Rufus]

Thanks for an interesting post.

If it hadn't been for Mayor Daley's ballot-stuffing in Chicago and the usual Texas voter fraud at LBJ's behest, Nixon would have won in 1960. He might have been a better President then than he was later, since his mistakes in 1972 which led to his downfall grew out of his paranoia and his desire to win big in 1972 to make up for his earlier loss and his narrow victory in 1968. How well would he have handled Khrushchev, Castro, Viet Nam, and the civil rights issues, if he had been in office in the early 1960s instead of JFK?

[Eva]

I think that Nixon would have handled Vietnam far differently than JFK. If Nixon chose to escalate our involvement in Vietnam, I think that it would have been more along the lines of the Goldwater suggestion, bomb the hell out of them and get out.

[Semper Paratus]

The late Richard M. Nixon comes back to bitch slap x42.

[Eva]

The late Richard M. Nixon comes back to bitch slap x42.

Exactly, and perhaps exacts some measure of revenge for Hillary's dishonest tactics of prosecution during Watergate.

[Eva]

I agree that Nixon may have misread the Yugoslavian situation, but I am not sure that he would have changed his mind. He seems to have underestimated the hatred the Muslims have for the US.

[Spunky]

Thanks for directing me to this thread.
I will bookmark it for later reading.

[Eva]

Please do, it is well worth the read.

[Eva]

Would you please send this to your ping list? Thanks in advance.

[Eva]

bump, bump

[Eva]

bump, bump

[Richard M. Nixon]

The late Richard M. Nixon comes back to bitch slap x42.

You betcha!

[Richard M. Nixon]

Exactly, and perhaps exacts some measure of revenge for Hillary's dishonest tactics of prosecution during Watergate.

That horrendous bitch has it (and a lot more) coming.