Romney’s Scary and Stupid Foreign Policy
If you don’t read Daniel Larison you should. He is all over Willard Romney’s foolish and scary foreign policy which has been constructed by old cold war warriors and neo-cons. Today we have this:
When Romney Calls for “Resolve and Strength,” He Is Endorsing Recklessness and Aggression
Mitt Romney is still harping on the 2009 missile defense decision:
I think it was an enormous mistake to give them that and what he got in return shows the extraordinary naiveté of a Presidency that does not understand the power of resolve and strength.
Let’s try a thought experiment. Suppose that Obama hadn’t cancelled the Bush-era missile defense plan, but had gone ahead with it as planned. This presumably would have proven American “resolve and strength” and put the Russians on notice that (horrible) Bush-era Russia policy was going to continue. Apparently, resolve and strength are proven by wasting money on something that doesn’t reliably work to maintain the fiction that the U.S. is being protected against an Iranian long-range missile threat that doesn’t exist, but never mind that. In fact, the very limited concession on the Bush-era missile defense plan was an essential gesture of goodwill that convinced Moscow that Obama was serious in trying to develop a more constructive relationship with Russia. If Romney had his way, that gesture would never have happened.
Russia is just one example. For more head over to Larison’s place to see what he has written about Romney.
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Larison is spot on.
Who would have thunk after Hillary Rodham Clinton’s infamous “3 a.m.” commercial and other questions in 2008 about whether Barack Obama had the requisite foreign policy chops that foreign policy would be a crowning achievement of his first term.
Romney has trapped himself by climbing into bed with the perpetual war crowd and will not be able to lie his way out of this position. Most Americans are sick of war. Period.
As unhappy as many of us are with aspects of Obama’s foreign policy (use of drones for ex.) the last thing we should want to see is another neocon (or someone as malleable as Romney in the hands of neocons) in the White House. Is it a good time to have another war on credit?
As far as missle defense, Mr. Romney seems to be uninformed. The US is deploying missle defense systems all over the world. Is it stupid and scary? Depends on your outlook.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/181298/reftab/73/t/US-to-promote-missile-defense-shield-for-ME/Default.aspx
Republicans have all the sophistication of a 3rd grade schoolyard bully when it comes to foreign policy. Their stance seems to stem from some sort of massive insecurity issues, that we must always look tough, must always be forcing people to our will, and that we have the right to just basically tell everyone what to do. Its the height of irony for Romney to take Obama to task for his foreign policy. Its like listening to a fat guy tell the gym’s physical trainer how to lose weight and how great red meat is for us.