Election time always brings out the best and the worst in Americans. It’s easy to evade responsibility with a quick, “I hate politics,” statement and a lack of actual study of each candidate’s positions, but that simply isn’t the best way for a country to operate. Informed voters make the best decisions and our country needs more of them. But, who has the time?
Since we all live busy lives I offer you a few short readings from the insightful intelligence service, Stratfor (hat tip to my dear friend Austin Skelley for introducing me to Stratfor’s weekly e-mail updates which you can sign up for here). The following is a four-part report from Stratfor founder and Chief Intelligence Officer, George Friedman, on the United States Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy.
Part I – The New President and the Global Landscape
Part II – Obama’s Foreign Policy Stance
Part III – McCain’s Foreign Policy Stance
Part IV – George Friedman on the Debate
Some quick highlights regarding each candidate:
On Obama:
The make-or-break moment for Obama will come early, when he confronts the Europeans. If he can persuade them to take concerted action, including increased defense spending, then much of his foreign policy rapidly falls into place, even if it is at the price of increasing U.S. defense spending. If the Europeans cannot come together (or be brought together) decisively, however, then he will have to improvise.
On McCain:
While McCain would need to define the mix of moralism and realism in his foreign policy, he made his evaluation of NATO’s weakness clear in 1999. Insofar as he believes this evaluation still holds true, he would not have to face the first issue that Barack Obama likely would — namely, what to do when the Europeans fail to cooperate. McCain already believes that they will not (or cannot).
Instead, McCain would have to answer another question, which ultimately is the same as Obama’s question: Where will the resources come from to keep forces in Iraq, manage the war in Afghanistan, involve Pakistanis in that conflict and contain Russia? In some sense, McCain has created a tougher political position for himself by casting all these issues in a moral light. But, in the Reagan tradition, a moral position has value only if it can be pursued, and pursuing those actions requires both moral commitment and Machiavellian virtue.
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Photo thief. Credit, pls.
@ L. Getz,
I gave the photographer credit. If you hold your mouse over the picture it says who took the photo and when you click on it, the link goes to the photographer’s flickr page.