In the past week, General McChrystal and his staff’s remarks and attitude about the war in Afghanistan and the Obama administration were made public. For Obama’s detractors including many Republicans, the events seem to fulfill the view that Presidents from the Democratic Party should not be trusted with foreign policy, because they leave our nation and the world less safe.
This suspicion against Democratic Presidents goes back to the Vietnam War when President Lyndon Johnson administration was virtually crushed by the failure of that war to keep South Vietnam from falling into the Communist’s hands. The suspicion was further in evidence when President Jimmy Carter ineffectively enacted a grain embargo against the USSR which seemed to hurt the United States agribusiness more than it had any effect whatsoever against the Soviet Union. Of course, anyone who followed the news back in 1980 recalls that President Carter oversaw an embarrassing failure to rescue American hostages in Iran which resulted in the deaths of 8 American servicemen.
Republican candidates effectively used such failures and embarrassments for three presidential elections to win office (1980, 1984 and 1988). However, when we look at the record of Republican presidents, the record is not so clear that Republicans have done a superior job in foreign policy. In October, 1983, President Reagan allowed Marines to be gathered, bombed and killed in a high rise building (against the wisdom that in an area where there are terrorists, it is best to have your troops in different locations to prevent an easy target like all of your troops being quartered in 1 place) in Lebanon resulting in the death of 241 servicemen (which is the largest single day number of deaths in recent foreign policy). President Reagan either lied or deluded himself into thinking that the US did not trade arms for hostages during the Iran Contra Affair. His administration was paralyzed for months as it worked at fending off charges and firing those responsible for such a misguided policy.
Of course, even Republicans and conservatives (like George Will) state that President Bush (the one elected in 2000 and 2004) handled the war in Iraq dreadfully. The inept handling of Iraq after Bush publicly proclaimed MISSION ACCOMPLISHED contributed to the victories in Congress in 2006 and Obama’s landslide election in 2008.
Furthermore, Democratic presidents have handled crises successfully. During the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Clinton supervised military and diplomatic policies that led to minimal loss of troops and forced Slobodan Milosevic (leader of Serbia) to be removed thereby stopping much of the ethnic cleansing in the area formerly known as Yugoslavia. Even conservatives give grudging praise for the way that the Clinton administration made a bad situation better. President Obama oversaw the takeover and killing of the pirates in the Red Sea who took over an American vessel. Furthermore, relations with numerous nations, including our close allies in Western Europe palpably improved when Bush left office and Obama became president. Further, there was near-consensus view among generals that George Bush’s foreign policy left US forces painfully overextended while gaining the contempt of our allies. Anyone who thinks that many general were not appalled by Bush’s failures and misguided foreign policy simply aren’t paying attention!
Some point out that Clinton was responsible for the lapses in security that led to 9/11. However, much of the security breaches and ignoring the threats evident before that awful day were as a result of the FBI and CIA’s failure to share information. It is easy to counter such an argument with the fact that no Republican president would have created better coordination between the 2 competing intelligence agencies prior to the 9/11 crisis. Furthermore, no Republican president acted upon evident threats like what was reported by the CIA in August of 2001.
When we look at the furor over McChrystal’s remarks, the general criticized people in Obama’s administration, but did not criticize Obama directly. In fact, McChrystal could not have been too upset with having his own advice followed when Obama sent 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. Further, how responsible is it for the general’s staff to get drunk while talking to the Rolling Stone reporter and stating what they really thought of the current administration? When the general himself publicly ridiculed the Vice President,he did so out of ignorance of the fact that Joseph Biden has been one of the foreign policy experts while he was a Senator and was, for years, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It’s not as though the current vice president is an empty head or suit like Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin. The General failed to realize that while Biden is skeptical of the military surge, reasonable minds can disagree and such ridicule that should never make the papers but be kept under his hat.
Finally, Obama chose wisely General Petraeus as the replacement to General McChrystal. Clearly, Petraeus will not allow his staff to get drunk with a reporter and spill their guts about what they really think of the current president. General Petraeus has shown proficiency in combating terrorists and guerrilla style warfare. His choice has been widely praised.
Yes, mistakes will be made by the Obama administration, but shouldn't we all acknowledge that foreign policy mistakes occur in Republican and Democrat administrations alike?? The idea of Democrats being soft on terrorists and threats from abroad is an intellectually lazy argument that doesn’t carefully take note of the facts. And there are many facts to take note of. The Pentagon budget is as big or bigger now than it was during the Bush administration. President Obama has wisely followed the advice of his Secretary, Robert Gates in saving the taxpayer’s billions of dollars in failed weapons systems. Democrats have been openly supportive and passed into law the fight against terrorists in Afghanistan. With all these facts, the stereotype of Democrats and their foreign policy is about as old and tired as the stereotypes against African Americans.
