This is the first installment in a four-part series on how Barack Obama better embodies traditional Republican values than John McCain does, and why intelligent GOPers should give him a chance. Read the introductory post to learn why I’m doing this.
Please read with an open mind.
Republicans on John McCain on National Security:
Senator Pete Domenici, (R-New Mexico): “I decided I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.”
Former Senator Bob Smith (R-New Hampshire): “His temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, that should disqualify him.”
George Bush accused Obama of “appeasement” on par with Neville Chamberlain for expressing a willingness to open diplomatic relations with hostile states. Now Bush is negotiating with Iran and North Korea, and developing a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq. They’ve come a long way from the Axis of Evil. It’s way too little, years too late.
How did the poster boy of the Republican Party, Ronald Regan, end the Cold War? By meeting diplomatically with the leader of the Evil Empire. With the ushering in of a cultural openness in glasnost, the Soviet Union imploded, brought down in no small part by blue jeans and rock’n'roll. We see the seeds of this possibility now in the Muslim world: nascent hip-hop and heavy metal cultures in Palestine and Iraq, underground hair salons in Afghanistan, Iranian women risking—literally—certain death by wearing high heels and make-up under their burquas.
But international terrorists are not the Soviet Union. The RAND Corporation, a far-right military conservative think tank which is inextricably linked to the shady early years of the CIA, recently released a survey of nearly 700 disbanded and defeated terrorist organizations, spanning 1968 to 2006. They found that only 7% of terror organizations have ever been brought down by military action; 10% disbanded because they had succeeded in their stated objectives. Do you like those odds? Do you feel safe? I don’t. By comparison, local policing and political negotiation succeeded 83% of the time in vanquishing terrorist organizations. RAND concludes that the most effective strategy against international terror is one that minimizes use of US force, and treats terrorists as criminals, not as soldiers.
After the September 11 attacks, which occurred on Bush’s watch, America was in the hearts and prayers and souls of the world. By showing grave disrespect for even our closest allies, recent American unilateralism has gravely damaged our moral standing in the international community, our ability to powerfully lead, and to offer advice or warnings. John McCain chastised Russia’s invasion of Georgia by declaring that “in the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations.” I’m sure that Putin got a good giggle from that. He knows we’re too bogged down in our own invasions in the Middle East to deal with Central Europe. McCain also called Russia’s troop movements “the first serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War.” Um, where’s he been since the end of the Cold War? McCain also thinks that Hamas is a Shiite organization, and that Iraq shares a border with Pakistan. How can he protect us (and Israel) when he can’t even keep straight who and where our enemies are, their alliances and alligences?
We can’t keep falling back on the same old lines and responses for the same old enemies. They aren’t standing still. We have to be prepared for new kinds of attacks. Weeks before Russia physically invaded Georgia, Russian hackers began destroying the internet information infrastructure of the country. This young century gave us new awareness of chemical and biological weapons, but cyberterrorism is the new up-and-comer: “You could fund an entire cyberwarfare campaign for the cost of replacing a tank tread, so you would be foolish not to.” George Bush is currently dismantling Cyber Command, the underfunded Air Force pet project that is our only line of defense. Barack Obama released a comprehensive plan to combat cyberterrorism months ago. John McCain is, according to his top IT advisor, “aware of the internet.”
But let the experts weigh in. Americans who do not support this war are accused of failing to support our troops. Our troops support Barack Obama. Well over a hundred US troops deployed abroad have given over $60,000 to Obama’s campaign. Only 26 soldiers have donated to John McCain’s campaign.
The first and only Iraq War veteran elected to the US Congress, Patrick Murphy, spoke at the DNC in support of Obama. The first and only woman three-star general in US history, Michele S. Jones, spoke at the DNC in support of Obama. The person who formally submitted Barack Obama’s name into the convention nomination is a registered Republican Iraq War veteran. No one in the entire RNC once mentioned care for our nation’s veterans.
Maybe that’s because John McCain voted, time and again, to deny or to decrease financial, health, family, and educational benefits to our soldiers and our veterans. Maybe that’s because he voted, time and again, against giving healthcare, body armor, and vital supplies to ACTIVE TROOPS. Maybe that’s because while John McCain has ten homes, nearly a quarter of a million US veterans are homeless. Maybe that’s because our fighting men and women want to get out of Iraq and bring the fight to al Qaida.
Conservative talk show host, frequent guest and substitute-host on the O’Reilly Factor, former G.W.H. Bush appointee, and a lifelong Republican, Michael Smerconish recently endorsed Obama entirely on the basis of national security: he thinks Barack Obama will bring Osama bin Laden to justice, and that John McCain won’t. Ed Koch, former mayor of NYC, recently endorsed Obama: “I have no regrets for having campaigned and voted for [George W. Bush]. … I believe that Bush and Tony Blair, Bush’s main international ally with regard to the war in Iraq and against Islamic terrorism, will be redeemed by history.” But for Koch, “the issue for me is who will best protect and defend America. I have concluded that the country is safer in the hands of Barack Obama, leader of the Democratic Party and protector of the philosophy of that party.”
John McCain says that Barack Obama does not want to win the war in Iraq. McCain doesn’t have a plan for victory in Iraq; he just plans to stay in Iraq, and has not offered any vision of what a victory would even look like. Bush declared mission accomplished 5 years ago. What was that mission? A functioning and prosperous Iraqi state? They have a new sovereign government, and a $70+ billion dollar national surplus. We were promised that the Iraq war would pay for itself, and we’re facing the largest fiscal debt in US history.
NEXT UP: Why an Obama administration will be more fiscally responsible, and better for a robust US economy, than McCain.
No Comments