Victor Davis Hanson: 'Bush Did It’ Is Not a Foreign Policy
[Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.]
Not being George W. Bush while apologizing for America’s purported sins is not a foreign policy....
After 9/11, George W. Bush sought to keep America safe from another round of Islamic terrorism while promoting Middle East constitutional government as a way of weakening Islamic terrorism.
But what exactly does Barack Obama wish to accomplish abroad?
In interviews and speeches, Obama emphasizes his nontraditional background and his father’s Islamic heritage. Apparently, he hopes that by reminding the world that he is not George W. Bush, America will be better liked....
Last I heard, the Chinese Communist government has not said a word about the killing of millions of its own, or about past fighting with many of its neighbors. Russia does not apologize for its bloodletting in Chechnya — or for any of the other countries it has invaded and crushed.
Only Obama’s America offers atonement, as if apologies will singularly achieve our new goal of being liked. Yet when there is no upside for a country’s being democratic or pro-American, and not much downside for its being dictatorial and anti-American, global confusion follows over the proper path that civilization should follow....
...[T]rashing George W. Bush, reaching out to enemies and taking friends for granted is not proving to be a coherent foreign policy. Instead, it is a prescription for a disaster not seen since 1979, when another messianic American president thought he could charm the world by making our enemies like us.
And we all know how that ended.
Read entire article at National Review
Not being George W. Bush while apologizing for America’s purported sins is not a foreign policy....
After 9/11, George W. Bush sought to keep America safe from another round of Islamic terrorism while promoting Middle East constitutional government as a way of weakening Islamic terrorism.
But what exactly does Barack Obama wish to accomplish abroad?
In interviews and speeches, Obama emphasizes his nontraditional background and his father’s Islamic heritage. Apparently, he hopes that by reminding the world that he is not George W. Bush, America will be better liked....
Last I heard, the Chinese Communist government has not said a word about the killing of millions of its own, or about past fighting with many of its neighbors. Russia does not apologize for its bloodletting in Chechnya — or for any of the other countries it has invaded and crushed.
Only Obama’s America offers atonement, as if apologies will singularly achieve our new goal of being liked. Yet when there is no upside for a country’s being democratic or pro-American, and not much downside for its being dictatorial and anti-American, global confusion follows over the proper path that civilization should follow....
...[T]rashing George W. Bush, reaching out to enemies and taking friends for granted is not proving to be a coherent foreign policy. Instead, it is a prescription for a disaster not seen since 1979, when another messianic American president thought he could charm the world by making our enemies like us.
And we all know how that ended.