John Bolton: Obama the Naive

by Infidelesto on June 5, 2008 · View Comments

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Ace passes along a great pic from Slublog

I could have not put it any better than this.  Talk about Reagan-esque wisdom…

LA Times

What is implicit in Obama’s reference to “tiny” threats is that they are sufficiently insignificant that negotiations alone can resolve them. Indeed, he has gone even further, arguing that the lack of negotiations with Iran caused the threats: “And the fact that we have not talked to them means that they have been developing nuclear weapons, funding Hamas, funding Hezbollah.”

This is perhaps the most breathtakingly naive statement of all, implying as it does that it is actually U.S. policy that motivates Iran rather than Iran’s own perceived ambitions and interests. That would be news to the mullahs in Tehran, not to mention the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.

It is an article of faith for Obama, and many others on the left in the U.S. and abroad, that it is the United States that is mostly responsible for the world’s ills.

He goes on…

Barack Obama’s willingness to meet with the leaders of rogue states such as Iran and North Korea “without preconditions” is a naive and dangerous approach to dealing with the hard men who run pariah states. It will be an important and legitimate issue for policy debate during the remainder of the presidential campaign.

Consider his facile observations about President Kennedy’s first meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in Vienna in 1961. Obama saw it as a meeting that helped win the Cold War, when in fact it was an embarrassment for the American side. The inexperienced Kennedy performed so poorly that Khrushchev may well have been encouraged to position Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962, thus precipitating one of the Cold War’s most dangerous crises.

Such realities should cause Obama to become more circumspect, minimizing his off-the-cuff observations about history, grand strategy and diplomacy. In fact, he has done exactly the opposite, exhibiting so many gaps in his knowledge and understanding of world affairs that they have not yet received the attention they deserve. He consistently reveals failings in foreign policy that are far more serious than even his critics had previously imagined.

Ace adds some unsolicited campaign advice…

Allow me to offer some unsolicited advice to the McCain campaign…I know you want to do the whole Maverick thing and Democrats really hate Bolton but the thing is, conservatives love him. Announce he will be a part of your administration and I guarantee a lot more conservatives will swallow hard and support you.

hattip: Malkin, Corner,

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  • Steve Weller

    John R. Bolton, who symbolizes everything wrong with the foreign policies of the Cheney/Bush presidency, is in no position to pontificate on the subject of diplomacy. Throughout his career he has demonstrated utter ignorance of its fundamental precepts—both as a man, and, more importantly, as a diplomat!

    The neocon agenda to marginalize the United Nations and set unrealistic preconditions to talks with “rogue states” is a cornerstone of their “breathtakingly naïve” vision of “American Empire”. Iraq was to be their first simple step in “democratizing” the Middle East; and we all know how well that’s working out. We can thank Bolton and his friends Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, all fellows of the American Enterprise Institute, for this foreign policy disaster.

    Bolton quotes his mentor, the late Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a coconspirator in the Iran/Contra affair and yet another AEI fellow. Her neo-fascist spirit survives in his proven mastery of Machiavellian machination and mendacity…

    So why should we believe anything John Bolton says about Barack Obama?

  • http://www.righttruth.typepad.com Debbie

    I love John Bolton, can you imagine him as president???

  • http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com Libertyship46

    Hey Steve, I love how you said, “The neocon agenda to marginalize the United Nations and set unrealistic preconditions to talks with “rogue states” is a cornerstone of their “breathtakingly naïve” vision of “American Empire”. Unrealistic preconditions? I guess wanting Iran not to wipe Israel off the face of the planet with nuclear weapons is an “unrealistic precondition,” right? ” As for the “neocon agenda to marginalize the United Nations,” well, the United Nations has done a wonderful job marginalizing itself, functioning as the most useless, corrupt, and impotent debating society the world has ever seen. They keep passing resolutions that nobody enforces and they wonder why Iran (or any other country) doesn’t take them seriously. The Europeans, certainly no friends to this administration, have been negotiating with the Iranians for years now trying to get them to give up their quest for nuclear weapons, and what has it gotten them? Oh, that’s right, NOTHING! So much for European diplomacy and negotiations. I guess that makes them “breathtakingly naïve” to think that the Iranians really want to solve this peacefully. And the much vaunted I.A.E.A. doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere either. They keep “warning” Iran, but not much seems to be happening. Far-left loons such as yourself, Steve, can afford to be terribly wrong in your assessment of Iranian intentions. Unfortunately, Israel, Europe, and the United States don’t have the luxury of being wrong all the time. One day soon Iran is going to have a nuclear weapon. Then what are naive pacifists like you going to say, “Oooops, sorry, we were wrong?” Tell that to the people living in Tel Aviv, London, Paris, or Rome, all potential targets for the Iranians. People like you make me ill.

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