Foreign Policy Amateur Hour
10 May 2008 3:34 pm by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
Good grief. Every time I see Ms. Rice’s name I wait for the cringe factor. Joseph Wilson has written about Rice as well. She never disappoints, but not in a good way.
Susan E. Rice, a former State Department and National Security Council official
who is a foreign policy adviser to the Democratic candidate, said that “for
political purposes, Senator Obama’s opponents on the right have distorted
and reframed” his views. Mr. McCain and his surrogates have repeatedly
stated that Mr. Obama would be willing to meet “unconditionally”
with Mr. Ahmadinejad. But Dr. Rice said that this was not the case for Iran
or any other so-called “rogue” state.Mr. Obama believes “that
engagement at the presidential level, at the appropriate time and with the
appropriate preparation, can be used to leverage the change we need,”
Dr. Rice said. “But nobody said he would initiate contacts at the presidential
level; that requires due preparation and advance work.”
Nice try, but Dr. Rice channeling Clinton at this late date doesn’t convince me of anything.
Obama has been trying to back away from “I would!” ever since he
uttered it. Ignoring that he said it when it’s on YouTube isn’t going to cut it.
It’s foreign policy amateur hour. In a general election against John McCain it will be deadly.
