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Actually, Alan Keyes just may be the sanest man in America.

Keyes-Obama debate, October 12, 2004

MODERATOR: Would you please assess where the U.S. stands diplomatically? Do we have a bad reputation now?

OBAMA: Well, I think that this administration has not been very good at what’s been called the exercise of “soft power.” You know, all of us recognize and reserve the right of the United States to exercise its military power in the national interest and for our national security—but we also have to recognize that a lot of our power comes from our ideals, our belief in freedom, our belief in democracy, our belief in the ability to work things through in a manner that comports with whatever frameworks of international law that have been shaped. And I think that, unfortunately, this administration has tended to be dismissive of any international efforts—and in his campaign, I think you witness it with a general disdain for, quote unquote, “globalism.” In some cases, this is just a function of us trying to have conversations with our allies so that we can move more effectively.

KEYES: See, I think the great problem is that you cannot give a soft response to a hard threat. It would be kind of like trying to meet a bayonet with a spaghetti noodle. And it’s not going to help the people of this country to survive.

After 9-11, we were faced with a hard threat. We had lost thousands of people, and we had to move aggressively. The belief that Afghanistan was enough is a belief based on a failure to understand the global infrastructure of terror—so that you deal with the threat that has hit you instead of with the threats that will hit you later if you neglect to preemptively move against their bases of support.

It is precisely in order to create a situation in which maybe people who would be otherwise supportive of this bloodthirsty threat will respond a little better to your overtures that you move with decision against regimes like the Iraqi regime that had shown itself disposed to support terror, to fund terror, to be part gleefully of the global infrastructure of terror—and to act against them before they have the opportunity to act against you.