Leaving policy behind, and just thinking for now about electoral politics,which is the better rhetoric on Iraq: bashing Barack Obama for pulling out too soon, or just ignoring the whole thing? Or is there some better choice available -- again, simply in terms of rhetoric, not policy.
Obama needs foreign policy to just go away. At best, it's a wash, and there's nothing to be gained in him pursuing a wash. It's a mark of his policy and political failure that he doesn't recognize this, and it's symbolic of his weakness that he continues to allow this all to envelop him. The odd dead-cat-bounce means little, longterm, to a vulnerable incumbent. The bounce inevitably becomes just another wash. And that bounce comes with much attached risk, of outcomes far worse than a wash.
ReplyDeleteOh, and for the Republicans, they need to be ignoring Iraq because it makes Obama look good by comparison, there's no advantage there. What the candidates need to start doing is hammer Obama for his failure to take the fight to Iran.
ReplyDeleteNot only do you show Obama's pitiful weakness of appeasing Ahmadinejad as he produces a nuclear bomb, Republican strength on this issue helps with the Jewish vote.
No, similar to Obama, foreign policy is mostly a wash for the R candidates right now. It can hurt them, and comes with much attached risk. I can see them grousing now and again about Obama's actions or lack thereof, but in the current environment, it's just as likely that they'll gain traction from a "bring the troops home" zeitgeist. Foreign policy really is a wash right now, in politics. Nice to see politics stop (mostly) at the water's edge, for once.
ReplyDelete