Posted on 02/07/2009 6:23:49 PM PST by ventanax5
Speaking of Rice, she seemed to have shifted to the left over the course of the Bush administration, particularly in its second term, when she became secretary of state. Does it really make a difference, then, whether it's Bush running the show or Obama?
Sadly from my perspective, there will be a lot of continuity between the Obama and Bush administrations where Middle East policy is concerned - generally on Iran, and specifically on a range of other issues. That doesn't warm my heart. It shows that mistakes were being made, especially during the second term of the Bush administration, many of which were made at secretary Rice's behest.
Was this because Bush came to rely on her so heavily, or did he actually hold with her views?
He did trust and rely on her very extensively in the second term, when a number of major voices of the first term left the government in one way or another and others, like vice president Cheney, had a much lower profile. I believe historians will judge that Rice was the dominant - in fact, nearly exclusive - voice advising the president on foreign policy in his second term.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
After Iraq, Bush became gun shy. In the past, we would not have blinked an eye at bombing Iran nuclear facilities. But Obama will be much worse than Bush on middle east policy. Obama is more Carter-like. I think there will be an urgency to attack Israel during Obama’s term, knowing the response will be weak.
Finished it. And quite truly.
Don't look for any help from Hussein to send you a task force, people. Your intel is better anyway. Just do it.
Best part of the Bolton iinterview:
From what you know of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, do you think she will take a similar view, or is it possible that she, ironically, might take a more hard-line position on Iran?
Bill and Hillary were a year ahead of me at Yale law school. I’ve known them for a long time - not that we were close buddies. And my recollection of Hillary was that she was one of the most radical leftists among the students there. She has gone through a lot of changes since then, among them in her political awareness, but I think fundamentally her views have not changed.
George Bush traded a much-needed pre-emptive strike on Iran for his Quixotic vision of a Democratic Iraq which will magically transform all the Islamo-fascist countries in that region into bastions of freedom and democracy, Iran included (presumably in the same way that a democratic Poland was the domino that started the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, and the USSR itself). In so doing, W also provided “top cover” for Obama to do nothing to fulfill his campaign promise (remember?) that Iran would not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
George W. Legacy was a fool when it came to Iran, and history will demonstrate that.
He had the window of opportunity not once, but several times to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities and he blinked.
All talk, no action.
There’s that ‘legacy’. Ditto for North Korea.
As Fred Thompson said in a long forgotten campaign appearance, "President Bush is down to his B-team now."
The Good Friday Agreement did not solve the Northern Ireland conflict, which, after all, in one form or another, had been going on for 500 years. It was solved by the British army thrashing the IRA. What was negotiated in the Good Friday Agreement were the terms of surrender.
John Bolton. Truth Seeking Missile.
Bolton IS a great American.
I would love to have the opportunity to hear John Bolton’s true thinking re C. Rice completely off record. Maybe JB will write a book about C. Rice and her Travels from Left to Right and back. JB is a great American, C. Rice is the opposite, IMO!
I agree.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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“Sadly from my perspective, there will be a lot of continuity between the Obama and Bush administrations where Middle East policy is concerned - generally on Iran, and specifically on a range of other issues.” ????
This author is daft.
ok I really like John Bolton and understand where he is coming from. Nevertheless that statement that the Obama admin will be the same as Pres Bush is ridiculous.
For instance the ship now held up in Cypress which the US is preventing Israel from seizing. Under Pres Bush? I don’t believe it. And neither do the Israelis.
Ambassor Bolton is brilliant, as usual.
No one on the 0bama team is his equal.
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