It’s just a matter of policy

04/13/2008

Paul Munnis


For almost eight years now the Bush Administration has had a problematic and failing foreign policy. Bush has made it worse by entering into wars that he cannot win militarily. He has compounded that with a first strike foreign policy thus making Bush (and by extension the U.S.) a nuclear threat to the rest of the world. People rightly observe that a first strike policy in a nuclear world is a dangerous thing for all of mankind. The reason that Bush cannot win International critics over is that his Administration has a failed foreign policy and a State Department that is unable and unwilling to negotiate with those it has declared as American enemies.

Typically a State Department has two things going for it: a public policy and a back channel for discussion. Bush has little by way of a back channel and thus Jimmy Carter is driving a semi-trailer through the huge opening that is created. In typical American forthrightness Bush is being negated and bypassed as the leader of the United States. He has lost what little claim he ever had as a leader. People are just ignoring him.

Jimmy Carter is going to speak to Hamas and see what is on their mind in order to see if there is an opening to create peace between Israel and Palestine. Americans are calling for Iraq to start to pay for some of the costs of continued occupation of Iraq. Others are going directly to al Sadr to discuss peace terms. Still others have begun dialog with Iran. In other words Americans have abandoned hope of Bush and his Administration getting anything useful done in diplomacy and some have taken it on themselves to provide diplomatic leadership and to move ahead in spite of Bush and his Administration being a roadblock.

The Bush foreign policy is hemorrhaging. Bush has lost control of world events. Bush is not respected in the world by other leaders and he can’t even get straight a simple thing such as his attendance at the Beijing Olympics and the reasoning behind his decision (what ever it is for we don’t know what he is thinking or even if he is thinking these days).

We have been saying for a long time that Condoleeza Rice has little influence in foreign affairs yet she is the Secretary of State. We have observed Chaney acting as the real Secretary of State and bypassing the rest of the government. We have observed that world leaders and people throughout much of the world think that Bush is the problem in world affairs and is not the solution to anything.

No matter what yardstick you measure Bush by he is a failure. That is true of war, economics, foreign policy, transportation, energy, and education. The other things left to measure him by are pretty superficial.

So we will get rid of Bush like a bad cold. We will also get rid of those who are his cronies, people like Senator Norm Coleman and Governor Tim Pawlenty and Dick Chaney too. Someone who has modeled himself as a Bush clone, such as McCain, has little hope in a coming election for nobody wants another Bush on the scene. Drafting Condoleeza Rice to be VP for the GOP ticket is another loser proposal.

Americans are preparing for a change of government and this is just another manifestation of the fact that the GOP is losing the confidence of the voters and the world. People are moving on without any heed to Bush. He is now a Lame Duck president. He no longer has the confidence of the people of his nation.

Should Jimmy Carter be going to talk with Hamas? He wouldn’t be if the Bush Administration was getting their job done. They’re not and so he is. Let’s hope that no damage is done by just talking to Hamas. After all Hamas leaders know too that a change of government is coming to America. They can see the three possibilities to replace Bush and these three are on record for much of their foreign policy positions. They might have some messages for the next president and if so it is best that they start by saying what is on their mind. Somebody has to listen and to listen you first have to meet. If you want to have peace talks in the mid-east you have to include those who you are not at peace with otherwise you are talking just to yourself. This has been a major criticism of the Bush Administration – their unwillingness to talk with their enemies. It leaves them isolated with nothing but old ideas and prejudices to go on.

In the meantime we have a lot of foreign policy issues that are not being handled. Among these are: a nuclear policy that deals with proliferation, testing, and deployment. Certainly trade is a major policy issue too. So is borrowing money from others. We are making huge loans from China, so much so that every rational person needs to be concerned that America is now having difficulty in dealing politically with China for you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Then we have to get back on track with the UN and try for something better than an adversarial relationship with all of the nations in the rest of the world. We need to build allies once more and we will be left with the legacy of Afghanistan and Iraq to manage. Finding a way to peace between Israel and Palestine is still a priority that has been neglected for the past eight years. Then we have a dollar to strengthen and we have a nation in need of a solid set of domestic policies including healthcare, education, jobs, and rebuilding of our decaying infrastructure. Africa is a major problem and the people of Africa deserve some opportunity to make a safe future for themselves. Central and South America is a neglected set of neighbors and they too must become at ease with the U.S.

The next Secretary of State is going to be a busy person and so are the other Cabinet members. Both our foreign and our domestic policy must be interlocked. We need to get it right from the beginning and the next president must lead in all of these areas faultlessly. It’s a darn tall order with little room for error. We need to get our best policy experts on the case and most of these are Democrats.