Obama and Foreign Policy-Jimmy Carter redux?

"Society is produced by our wants and government by wickedness...government even in its best state is but a necessary evil."-Thomas Paine

Foreign Policy

If Senator Barack Obama is elected president he will assume control over the foreign policy of the United States. Senator Obama has no foreign policy experience so he will have to rely on the advice of members of the Democratic Party. What lessons can we draw from the performance of past Democratic administrations?

Kennedy

While he is remembered for his moving words in Berlin, we tend to forget that Kennedy's foreign policy was marked by major failures. Soon after taking office Kennedy presided over the Bay of Pigs debacle in Cuba. Later, Kennedy stood eye to eye with the Russians in the Cuban Missile Crisis. While we tend to think of this as a success for America, the fact is that the end result was a hostile Cuba supported by the Soviet Union located in our very backyard. Does anyone recall the Monroe Doctrine? And often forgotten is the fact that Kennedy committed significant resources to Vietnam setting the stage for that painful episode in American history.

Johnson

Can anyone remember anything good about LBJ's foreign policy? The Johnson years were dominated by the Vietnam War. Indeed the Vietnam War is axiomatic for everything that can be done wrong by a government in a time of war-underestimating the enemy, misleading our own population, micromanaging the professional military, non-sensical rules of engagement that effectively "tied one arm behind our back". In fact Johnson's foreign policy was such a disaster that Johnson refused to run for a second term.

Carter

Remember the "Rose Garden" strategy where Jimmy Carter wouldn't leave the White House until the Iran hostages came home? Carter followed a naive and poorly thought out policy of confronting friend and foe alike over human rights. The net result was to undermine our allies. Carter's administration misread the risks in Iran with the resulting revolution and foundation of a terrorist-supporting islamic republic. To this day we are reaping the rewards of Carter's unfortunate foreign policy.

Clinton

On the surface Clinton doesn't appear to be quite as much of a disaster as his Democratic predecessors. But wait! Clinton involved us in the conflict in Kosovo where we maintain troops to this day. Clinton cut and ran from Somalia after the Blackhawk Down incident, thereby dooming that miserable land to chaos and misery as well as ensuring that the lives lost by the brave Rangers were in fact wasted. And most importantly, Clinton failed to seize the opportunity to capture or Kill Bin Laden when we had the opportunity.

Obama?

Will Obama break the pattern or will he be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with his inept Democratic breathren? Time will tell but the signs don't look promising. Obama has already stated he would meet with anti-American foreign leaders such as Ahmadinejad and Chavez. Yet he gives us no clues as to what he would say to them. He has accused our airmen and soldiers of "aerating Afghan villages" and killing civilians thus undermining the very men and women he would lead with his own words. And Obama's "strategy" for Iraq is to oppose what works (e.g. The Surge) and follow Clinton's Somali example of "cut and run".