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No, Obama Is Not a McGovernite on Foreign Policy

Rich Lowry talks nonsense: Perhaps none of this should be surprising since the Democrats, despite the Clinton interlude, never stopped being a McGovernite party, and Obama is a McGovernite figure. In what sense could this be true? McGovernite is just a term of abuse here that has no relationship to what Obama is doing. Lowry […]

Rich Lowry talks nonsense:

Perhaps none of this should be surprising since the Democrats, despite the Clinton interlude, never stopped being a McGovernite party, and Obama is a McGovernite figure.

In what sense could this be true? McGovernite is just a term of abuse here that has no relationship to what Obama is doing. Lowry objects to the decision to honor the agreement with the Iraqi government negotiated by the previous administration. It doesn’t matter that there was no realistic way to keep large numbers of American soldiers in Iraq without risking the eruption of a new insurgency. The administration hasn’t endorsed a “come home, America” sentiment, but it has acknowledged the reality that most Iraqis want U.S. forces to get out of their country. All year long, there has been agitation from presidential candidates and activists to keep large numbers of U.S. forces in Iraq for years to come, but that idea was never going to be acceptable to the Iraqi government. The “boost to Iran” came eight years ago when the U.S. deposed their enemy, and it came again each time that Shi’ite parties favorably disposed to Tehran were elected and formed governments. A continued U.S. presence would not have prevented Iran from continuing to receive similar “boosts” as Iran-Iraq ties grew stronger. Obama’s foreign policy decisions can be described as many things, but the one thing it absolutely isn’t is McGovernite.

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