How to read Foreign Affairs Posted by Heather Hurlburt

When I read the Foreign Affairs candidate pieces, I'm looking less for the canned paragraphs on the designated HOT ISSUES.  Anybody can hire staff to write those.

What I want is evidence of an overall worldview, a moral sense, and an understanding of how specific issues big and small fit in.  And the Clinton piece scores big on all fronts.

By and large you won't read about those three larger points unless you read the article yourself, allow me to recap:

Overall worldview:  ... opportunity cannot flourish without basic security.  We must build a world in which security and opportunity go hand in hand, a world that will be safer, more prosperous and more just.

To meet these challenges, we will have to replenish American power by getting out of Iraq, rebuilding our military, and developing a much broader arsenal of tools in the fight against terrorism.  We must learn once again to draw on all aspects of American power, to inspire and attract as much as to coerce.  We must return to a pragmatic willingness to look at the facts on the ground and make decisions based on evidence rather than ideology.

Values  The piece makes the explicit point about our values being part of our appeal, and the need for us to get back to them; but then there are what I would call values or ethical issues woven through every segment, including the classic power politics ones focusing on Iraq, terrorism, etc.  This is a good job of getting beyond paying lip service to values and actually integrating them into pragmatic discussions of issues.  The "establishment" will probably either wince or ignore it.

I'm selecting a few examples of that -- elements you won't read coverage of -- below...

As we counsel liberty and justice for all, we cannot support torture and the indefinite detention of individuals we have declared to be beyond the law.

I will focus U.S. aid on helping Iraqis, not propping up the Iraqi government.

(big kudos for stepping away from the politically-popular idea that we can just cut off aid...)

Whether or not the United State makes progress in helping to broker a final agreement, consistent U.S. involvement (in the Middle East peace process) can lower the level of violence and restore our credibility in the region.

(I used to think this was too obvious to need repeating, but not any more)

The Russia and China sections are too long to reproduce here (I'm typing one-handed today) but worth looking at for how they balance geopolitical and human rights concerns.  Don't you miss leaders intelligent enough to admit there's a tradeoff and talk about how best to balance it?

And my personal sneaky favorite...

We can strengthen the International Labor Organization in order to enforce labor standards, just as we strengthened the World Trade ORganization to enforce trade agreements.

Comments

[Ilan Goldenberg]

Heather,

Have to disagree. I genuinely think there is nothing of real substance in any of these Foreign Affairs pieces. I'd argue that the best way to figure out how to judge these folks's foreign policy is by checking out who their advisors are. For example, Josh Marshall's piece about Rudy will tell you much more about him then any article in Foreign Affairs.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/056028.php

[SteveB]

we will have to replenish American power by getting out of Iraq...

How does this square with the fact that, in the MSNBC debate, she basically said "no" when she was asked if she could commit to a total withdrawal from Iraq by 2013?

[Bob Narus]

Values? I think we learned all we need to know about HRC's sense of American values in October 2002. I've heard nothing since then that suggests she's changed.

[J]

Umm, don't you think you should disclose that you consult for the HRC campaign and do occasional speechwriting for her? This post really erodes your credibility as a blogger.

[Zathras]

J raises a good question. In fact, I think it's appropriate to ask each one of the DA contributors if they intend to seek jobs in the next administration, whoever heads it, and how much this intention shades their commentary now.

I don't object to partisanship (either in its usual meaning or in the sense of advocacy of the cause of one candidate in particular). I imagine if I had a candidate this time around I'd be firing broadsides all over the place. But there is advocacy on the one hand and jobseeking on the other, for one thing -- and for another the distasteful custom of partisan commentators claiming to find something "interesting" or "inspiring" or that "scores big" in some statement issued by their favored campaign organization without frankly disclosing their preference is well entrenched in the political media. It's time to blow some of those entrenchments up.

[HeatherH]

Fair point, but based on outdated info. I haven't done any work for them in more than 6 months and am not on the campaign. I am a supporter -- thought that was obvious, but happy to mention it again. I'm disappointed that you all haven't challenged some of my colleagues' glowing posts on other candidates the same way.

[SteveB]

I'm disappointed that you all haven't challenged some of my colleagues' glowing posts on other candidates the same way.

Who else should we be challenging? Is there a scorecard somewhere showing which DA contributor is working for which Dem candidate? I don't mean to be flip, I'm just having a hard time keeping up, is all.

[J]

I commented because your post was over the top -- positively gushing that HRC is some type of foreign policy visionary. Please! She may make for a good, competent President, much, much better than the incumbent, but let's not go overboard. That you are an unofficial advisor to her, whether in the past or the present, undermines any persuasiveness your post may otherwise have had.

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