Why you should be deeply, deeply suspicious when John McCain talks about...alliance building

[babylonsister]

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=ab15aa4c-568a-4000-ad7d-7cda6d2b2695

Multilateral Like Bush by Ilan Goldenberg and Max Bergmann
Why you should be deeply, deeply suspicious when John McCain talks about the importance of alliance-building.
Post Date Wednesday, May 07, 2008


On March 26th, John McCain gave a much-hyped foreign policy speech at the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles. It was his way of signaling both his commitment to restoring America's alliances and his desire to separate himself from the diplomatic blunders of the Bush administration. And it went over like gangbusters. David Broder, dean of the Washington pundit class, gushingly proclaimed the speech was "an implicit rebuke to the mind-set of the current White House" and went so far as to equate it with Barack Obama's speech on race.

"We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies," McCain said, in an echo of George Bush's 2000 campaign promise to play nice with our friends. "If we're an arrogant nation," Bush said at the time, "they'll resent us; if we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us." And we all know how that turned out.

Only a press corps so enamored with McCain could imagine that one of the staunchest supporters of the Iraq War would be capable of breaking with the current administration's unilateral adventurism. Despite his conciliatory rhetoric, McCain's hawkish views, and his long history of castigating allies who do not agree with him, leave little reason to believe that when it comes to restoring America's image, credibility, and alliances, he would be much different than George W. Bush. A brief look at these four crucial policy areas explains why.

snip//

Try as he might to distance himself from George Bush's abrasive foreign policy, John McCain has too long of a record to outrun. On Russia, Iran, and North Korea, he will have a policy of confrontation and escalation. His dismissive approach towards international institutions (and at times our closest allies), as well as his long history of verbally belittling other countries, cast real doubt on his ability to handle delicate diplomatic situations. In short, John McCain's claim that he is the right man to break with the Bush administration and build a "global coalition for peace and freedom" simply strains credulity.


Ilan Goldenberg is the Policy Director and Max Bergmann is the Deputy Policy Director of the National Security Network.


© The New Republic 2008