I must be becoming a psychic in my old age. I recently told a friend that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is facing some tough opposition from the Tea Party and Democrats in his Kentucky re-election bid, would suddenly emerge from his low-profile on Syria to deliver a speech that would announced he’d vote no, then justify it by making it anti-Obama. That is the “motif” of Republican positions on Syria these days — encasing all arguments so it’s about Barack Obama.
National Review offers this copy of the text that a source tells them was written by him himself and b) a source reassures everyone that it is not political but what he believes. (Did I ever tell you about the Easter bunny who’ll hide candied eggs in your house in April?)
Go to the link and read it in full. It’s interest how on a speech ON SYRIA he takes potshots at Obama’s domestic agenda and the underlying theme is (no surprise) the same as Rush Limbaugh’s and other GOPers: you really can’t trust Obama on this because he’s incompetent.
There’s no surprise on this speech at all. It’s indicative once more of how far the quality of American legislative leadership has fallen. It’s hard to imagine a Bob Dole, Howard Baker or a Bill Frisk or an Everett Dirksen delivering a speech like this on something involving foreign policy.
But it’ll serve McConnell’s purpose: he gets to vote against it (please the right wingers at home) but claim it’s not because he has shifted on foreign policy and balks at using military force in the world.
The real botton line without saying it? He’s voting against it because Barack Obama — that guy who has that domestic agenda that’s hurting the world, as he argues in his speech — wants it passed. It’s not enough of a response, the cause is not the cause to right with force — and, not uncoincidentally, it’s also about Obama.
But don’t take my word for it (if you’re an independent, centrist or moderate). Read it yourself.
And, yes, it is one more example of this.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.