If Obama is a complete reversal of Bush’s policies, but Bush had already started to reverse himself a little bit, does that make Obama just more of the same? Hogwash. Complete garbage.
Still, that’s why David Brooks tries to argue in the New York Times today.
Brooks claims that President George W. Bush (learning from the unmitigated disaster of Iraq from 2003-2006) launched a new, holistic approach to foreign policy under Sec. of Defense Robert Gates. And Brooks goes on to praise President-elect Obama for following in Bush’s recent footsteps.
Bringing in Gates as Secretary of Defense was an important step towards replacing recklessness with common sense; I’ll give Bush that. But to pretend that a holistic approach to foreign policy is somehow a Bush invention is preposterous.
Alleviating global poverty, strengthening the rule of law, and stabilizing peaceful governments has been a vital part of US foreign policy since World War II. Only Bush was stupid enough to think it could be accomplished by the military alone.
Gates was never that stupid. He was never a neo-con. He doesn’t represent Bush’s governing philosophy or foreign policy; he’s a repudiation of it. Gates comes from outside Bush’s circle – not just his circle of people but his circle of thought.
Gates represents “continuity,” Brooks claims? Ha. At best, Gates represents that even Bush knew his own political ideology led to total failure.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
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