JustASC

Even by its own weird standards, an essay by Richard V. Allen in the WJS about Obama’s foreign policy experience or lack thereof says…absolutely nothing.

Allen, a foreign policy aide to Nixon and Reagan, runs down the foreign policy credentials of the last seven presidents, from Nixon to George W. Bush, to whom he devotes exactly one sentence:

George W. Bush, of course, had virtually no international experience, yet was able to rally the nation in response to 9/11.

Remember the rally? I still have my t-shirt.

So here’s Allen’s scorecard:

Nixon: “vast international experience in extensive travels as vice president.” Presidential performance: opened China.

Johnson: Very experienced. Performance: “strong proponent of a bipartisan foreign and national security policy”

Ford: “Solid experience.” Performance: no assessment given

Carter: “no significant foreign experience.” Performance: brokered Egypt-Israel peace deal, badly misjudged Soviets, failed to rescue Iranian hostages

Reagan: “voracious reader, researcher and writer” whose preparation prior to 1980 was “methodical” — travelling overseas in 1978.  Performance: no assessment provided.

George H.W. Bush: Very experienced. Performance: no assessment provided.

Bill Clinton: Studied at Oxford, travelled widely, overseas trips as governor. Performance: no assessment provided.

Geroge W. Bush: No experience. Performance: Great rally-er.

John McCain: Very experienced 

Allen concludes:

So, when we hear about Barack Obama’s extensive “experience” in foreign affairs, most of which will be recently acquired in a mere week of travel amid media fanfare, it should be judged in the context of the experience quotients of his predecessor candidates for the presidency.

Judged in what context exactly? Allen doesn’t even bother to tell us how he thinks most of the presidents did in the foreign policy realm, or suggest how their experience or lack thereof matched their performance. Like his decision to punt on W.’s legacy (the “rally” lasted about six months of his seven-and-half years in office, and preceded two wars), the entire article is a worthless and un-serious performance.

If he had a set of cojones and really wanted to rattle Obama supporters, he might write: “If you don’t think foreign policy experience counts, check out he last seven years.” But how would that sit with his colleagues at the Hoover Institution? 

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 10:11 am and is filed under JustASC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.