Robert Bartley would’ve been proud of the Wall St. Journals editorial recently, for it elaborated on the reasoning why Obama chose Kerry for State and Hagel for Pentagon.
The reason is simple: both men embody a diminished vision of an American Imperium.
The compounded skepticism of the role that America has to play around the world will be checked by the House and Senate. If anything, team Obama is asking for a fight in choosing his Cabinet. The GOP should oblige him.
The political instincts that all these men embody will damage our ability to threaten our adversaries. All of them has elaborate histories of opposing American power and interests, and a willingness to engage lethal adversaries unconditionally. Beijing, Damascus, Teheran won’t miss the reading these men portray.
If anything, Syria embodies the complete failure that these men desperately seek to arrange on behalf of a President who seeks withdrawal, at any cost.
Yes, George McGovern died recently, and his views advertised inside the pages of the WSJ demonstrate profound growth. Time spent running a hotel in Connecticut did much to fortify his realist grasp. Too bad such an awakening didn’t occur during his tenure in D.C. It was badly needed; we waited nearly 12 long years to discover the strength that was America in Reagan.
Clinton, Gates and Petraeus would have provided much needed counterweights to such Dovish passion. This is difficult to say, but Hagel, Obama and Kerry have instincts that seek to avoid U.S. leadership. Not a good call given what’s brewing on the horizon. The neo-isolationalism of these men was for a by-gone decade.
An archaic view here will prove lethal.
We have an exhausted military, a very weak Executive, a gutted Navy, and an upcoming sequester. This administrations senior security ranks of being dominated by doves unwilling and unable to confront, challenge and manage our adversaries.
Instead, we’re going to witness the management of American decline.
William Holland
William Holland 