Newsweek: Egypt Proves Bush Right

[liberal N proud]

The protests in Egypt show that Bush was right to push for democracy in the Middle East, says Stephen L. Carter. But now the question is if Obama can stay true to his words and promote freedom.

Not long ago, President George W. Bush was considered naive for suggesting that the promotion of democracy in the Arab world should be a staple of American foreign policy. Two years ago, the same charge was whispered against President Barack Obama, when he suggested, in his Cairo address to the Muslim world, that self-government and freedom “are not just American ideas, they are human rights.” True, due to the exigencies of pursuing the nation's strategic interests, neither man actually pressed very hard for democratization. Still, the more important point is that both were subjected to lectures from experts who insisted that somehow even to speak about democracy and freedom in the Arab lands was to show oneself to be a hopeless romantic, insufficiently hardheaded, out of touch with reality.

As of today, that essentially racist assumption is dead. That is the lesson of the popular revolution that has overthrown the ruler of Tunisia and caused the seemingly eternal president of Egypt to promise not to run for another term. (Presumably he will be gone well before his term expires.) The king of Jordan is forming a new government. The Yemen regime is worried. Even in Riyadh, uneasiness must be growing.

Up until now, President Obama has been boxed in, unwilling to stand behind Hosni Mubarak lest he offend the government that is bound to follow, probably in short order, yet equally unwilling to support the calls for Mubarak's ouster lest he offend other strongmen whose support he still needs. The box, however, has fallen apart. The movement is not fading but gaining strength. If Mubarak goes, tens of thousands will pour into the streets of Amman and Sana and elsewhere. What we are witnessing might in the end be on a par with the swift and sudden collapse of the communist dictatorships of Eastern Europe.

The much-maligned Bush doctrine included a military component—fighting our foes on their soil rather than ours—that President Obama has fully adopted. It also included a moral component—the use of American influence to spread democracy and freedom—that was hardly ever emphasized, perhaps because the Bush administration followed its own moral strategy only rarely.
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/02/egypt-proves-bush-right.html



Oh where to begin?

[renegade000]

1. Well, for one, there's this chart

Doesn't appear that the Egyptians appreciated Bush's particular way of going about promoting democracy.
Just because you're right about your general aims, doesn't mean you can't still go about it in the completely wrong ways...

[Johonny]

7. +1

[Kingofalldems]

2. RW going both ways on this one

Talking points have not been ironed out.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Bush lied almost every time he stepped in front of a camera...

He tried to turn what's left of the American "Democracy" into a dictatorship.

[BeFree]

4. These are RW talking points, right? eom

[cbdo2007]

5. Bush's "idea" of a Democratic ME was right - his implementation was all wrong.

The difference is about forcing freedom on people versus allowing them to fight for it and achieve it themselves.

America wasn't created because someone fought for freedom for us. We came over here and then had to fight for it all ourselves. That's why we're free.

[mmonk]

8. Bush didn't give a damn about democracy.

His best friends were the Saudis. He was about corporate global hegemony.

[cbdo2007]

11. I know, I'm just saying that of course a "democracy" is ideal. Everyone knows that....

but you can't just force it on people.

Bush had alterier (sp?) motives which are obvious (oil, money) so Egypt doesn't prove anything for him.

"Democracy" in Iraq and Democracy in Egypt are two completely different things. You can't compare them.

[mmonk]

16. Yes, democracy and forced on the people are separate concepts.

[cbdo2007]

19. In fact Egypt actually proves Bush was WRONG. Citizens can and will stand up for....

themselves and fight their government when they finally reach that breaking point, and it has nothing to do with the U.S.

[mmonk]

6. Ha! What a crock of dung.

[fishwax]

9. Bwahaha! What a crock!

:rofl:

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. This guy also said that Health insurance companies are good

Stephen L. Carter - The Quest for Profit Can Benefit Health Care ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/29/AR2009072902626.html

Read that article if you want to throw up.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

12. Jr. wouldn't know democracy if it were giving him a lap dance. Fuck him and the clown who wrote this

garbage.

[blogslut]

13. What a lazy OP-ED

The specious reasoning is insulting.

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. Hey .... he teaches at Yale

writes black mystery novels and likes the corporate medical insurance solution...



.....I think I've seen him on a few TV spots he's articulate and conservative.

Not a friend of the left or center.

[Johonny]

15. Arab world doesn't include all countries in article

tells you how carefully thought out it was :)

[Arctic Dave]

17. We will support Democracy by propping up Dictators. Yeah! That's the ticket!

I believe they named it "Operation Backwards World".



Facepalm to umpteenth power.

[RainDog]

18. LOL. The bullshit is that Bush wasn't actually pushing for democracy

He intended to install yet another puppet and pretend that was democracy.

but that reality doesn't stop the right wing bullshitters from lying - it's like creationism as politics.

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. Photo of bush pushing for democracy in the middle east.

[spanone]

21. 'Up until now, President Obama has been boxed in, unwilling to stand behind Hosni Mubarak'

newsweek wishes President Obama stand behing mubarak?

the manure is waist deep in that article

the rewriting of history regarding the bu$h* administration is america at it's worse