It's too late. Your ship is already sinking below the waters...
For anyone paying attention, John McCain has repeatedly derided Obama’s willingness to use diplomatic tools with countries like Iran. For McCain and other neocons, the idea of sitting down with a dictator, a rogue state, or even one that the neocons just don’t like (read = Spain) is a naive proposition that is ultimately useless, unproductive, or perhaps even dangerous. The Bush administration has towed the lines on things like timelines for withdrawal with respect to Iraq or a “we don’t speak to THOSE people” policy on rogue states. Ironically, populist sentiment has validated Obama’s initial “mavericky” positions on things like the Iraq War (voted against it in the beginning) and diplomatic relations with Iran. The fact that people and voters are starting to say, “Wait a minute…why SHOULDN’T we sit down with these countries instead of going straight to the bike rack for an after school throw down” has made Obama’s positions mainstream positions and not just liberal ones. After all, we saw how well our foreign policy has been working out with Iraq, haven’t we? We also saw the impotence of the Bush administration to halt North Korea’s march towards nuclear proliferation without an all out war as well. Their “no talk” policy with North Korea collapsed (as it should have) when the circumstances created an urgency that put neocon asses in the hot seat (to speak colloquially for a second).
Crazily enough…North Korea seems to be setting down a bit after some rounds at the negotiating table. Who would have guessed! Diplomacy really is dark wizardry indeed! <—-Sarcasm.
The sad fact is that the mainstream giants of yore don’t even seem to realize that it is too late. Their time is up. When Bush tries to scramble and absorb Obama’s agenda during his last lame-duck moments in the White House, he just looks pathetic. I would normally say “better late than never,” but who really feels that these moves by the Bush administration are really genuine or heartfelt? Who doesn’t see this as just a weak attempt at salvaging SOME legacy from the smoking ruins of this collapsed presidency? Who doesn’t think there isn’t a bit of an attempt to cut the wind out of Obama’s sails by preemptively absorbing some of his agenda at the last minute? If this collapse wasn’t the epitome of justice, it would be sad. Instead, it just looks pathetic. Like the pitiful collapse of Communism under it’s own rotten weight. There is nothing graceful about this. If seeing this all for what it is wasn’t so important and vital to American discourse, I would almost feel obliged to say, “Move along here, there’s nothing to see” as if I were watching a car crash.” However, much like teenagers, we need to see the macro-scale reality of what happens when a drunken cowboy gets behind the wheel of a car that has a steering wheel he can’t even see over. Maybe…just maybe we will get it at some point.
-E
