The intertubes are abuzz with Robert Kagan's analysis of Obama's apparent foreign policy stance. Suck up to your enemies and piss off your allies.
Sound familiar?
As I've watched the President hem, haw and delay over his promise to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, I'm left with a familiar feeling. Delaying is a gimme to the fundamentalist, homophobic right wing, allowing them to whip their base into a frothy mix of hateful opposition.
It is a similar dynamic. Screw your allies and accommodate your enemies. So here's my question:
Who are Obama's real friends?
The right wing in this country will never accept him and his progressive base is becoming less and less interested in his pretty speeches every day.
I had such hope on inauguration day and I still want Obama to do what he said he would do. But it will take a miracle for me to believe in him again.
Is anyone else out there reminded of Jimmy Carter? I mean, just in terms of profound disappointment.
Malaise forever.
Anyone?
(Hat tip to Dr. Snickerdoodle.)
Jason, I don't think Robert Kagan is a reliable source about, well, anything. Or most anything; I'm sure he's right sometimes. But he was a HUGE fan of the Iraq war, pressed for it aggressively, and continued to insist after the fact that the WMD must be there somewhere -- and that anyone who believed otherwise was a conspiracy theorist. I'm glad he's (currently) against the idea of bombing Iran but he's pretty hawkish. I might not go as far as Glenn Greenwald, who titled a 2007 post Why would any rational person listen to Robert Kagan?, but still.
ReplyDeleteI read the new column and he makes a lot of assertions about how allies feel but quotes no one, although he links to a column written by fellow hawk Jim Hoagland. I had to laugh when he claimed that Obama ordered "a near-rupture of relations with Israel for a minor infraction like the recent settlement dispute." Apparently Kagan thinks Israel should be allowed to annex all Palestinian land or something, and that Obama should be fine with that!