As things fall apart Posted by Max Bergmann

No week has better illustrated the catastrophic failures of the Bush administration's foreign policy then this one.

Just look at the front page of the New York Times today. It has two big stories above the fold. The left column is about Musharraf's resignation. The right column is about the collapse of the Bush-Putin relationship.

Instead of two articles it should have had one headline: After 8 Years Bush's Pakistan And Russia Policies Shown To Be Complete Failures.

So this week at the same time the President was coming to the realization that his insights into Putin’s soul may have been misguided, his failed policy toward Pakistan was also coming full circle. The resignation of Musharraf represents the total collapse of eight years of Bush administration policy. Toward both Russia and Pakistan, Bush pursued a personality driven policy - to Russia we had a Putin Policy, to Pakistan we had a Musharraf Policy. And both leaders have used their personal relationships with the President to insulate themselves from broader criticism. In the end, we never had a real strategy for either country and eight years later we find ourselves increasingly powerless to do anything about it.

Perhaps the biggest foreign policy challenge for the next President is attempting to restore U.S. credibility and prestige around the world. McCain this week has shown exactly the wrong way to go about it. His recent over-the-top rhetoric about Georgia is exactly the wrong approach and reeks of the same neoconservative inspired thinking that emanated from Bush's first term. Making hollow promises and defiant threats, when the Bush administration just showed that such rhetoric to be completely hollow, only makes the U.S. look less credible (Of course, if McCain were actually serious about following through on his reckless rhetoric and militarily confronting Russia then that would not only be insane but would further imperil our superpower status). McCain's mocking of Obama's trip abroad, only demonstrates how out of touch McCain actually is. The fact is that we need a leader who can convince the world once again to follow the lead of the United States. Obama's trip demonstrated that he has the power to do that. While on the other hand, all McCain has shown is a lot of reckless crazy talk that will only leave us isolated and weaker.

 

Comments

[David Shorr]

"Perhaps the biggest foreign policy challenge for the next President is attempting to restore U.S. credibility and prestige around the world."

Testify, brother!

[Jim Arkedis]

Not only that -- let's make the case that Bush has started appeasing Russia! How's that for personality-based diplomacy?

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[GS]

You write:

The fact is that we need a leader who can convince the world once again to follow the lead of the United States.

Why? Where are we going, exactly? What we need is a leader who understands that the federal government has a very limited ability to shape the world beyond our borders (it's having trouble within them, as well) and that the bar for foreign policy has to be lowered dramatically to "first, do no harm."

[MarjorieG]

Spot on, and I'd add McCain's nudging Georgia for campaign gains need to be discussed. Why can't these sage words be in the NYT or WaPo, which always seem to show a deference to the neo-con thinking, and our culpable role secondarily.

[Peace]

Part of the problem is that a significant number of older Americans seem to buy into McCain's approach if one looks at the recent polls. I personally think that the progressive movement needs to spend more time at educating the public about how dangerous McCain's policy is when one considers that Russia has thousands of nukes.

[Dan Kervick]

It is no mere campaign exaggeration to say that McCain has shown himself to be even nuttier and more dangerous than Bush. Bush actually seems to have learned a few things about foreign policy in the real world, at long last, and has employed better and sounder people of late, who are pursuing somewhat more sensible policies. Sadly, McCain appears to live in a fantasy world peopled with the ghosts of the past, ghosts which are animated by his personal pain and anger.

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Part of the problem is that a significant number of older Americans seem to buy into McCain's approach if one looks at the recent polls. I personally think that the progressive movement needs to spend more time at educating the public about how dangerous McCain's policy is when one considers that Russia has thousands of nukes.

The problem is that these people spent most of their lives in a hair trigger world with nukes pointed at them, and they made it through alright, and so returning to that world doesn't seem, perhaps, like such a big deal to them. There might even be some nostalgia out there for the dangerous but clear-cut world of a bipolar struggle between well-defined camps separated by clearly demarcated walls, and by morally sharp and antagonistic ideologies. It was much less confusing, and more rule-governed, than the current multipolar world of fluid coalitions, globalized market competition and complex ideological combinations and gradations. For some, McCain promises a return to that simpler era of supposed moral clarity.

[Jake]

I, again, find myself agreeing with Democracy Arsenal regarding John McCain's ineptitude and qualification (lack thereof) for the Oval Office. President Bush has also been a disaster, you're right on. His foreign policy has been consistently short-sighted. He hasn't retained good advisers and has a history of making terrible judgment calls and being a bigot. This is a thought-provoking post however, that I will write on.

[Joe Cirincione]

Excellent analysis, Max. Too few stop to question why these crises are occurring. They are not inevitable, nor unrelated to our policies.Thanks for posting this.

Joe

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