if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803
Chimpy McDiplomat
by
Change comes to all of us it seems.Farewell Cowboy.
Imagine an administration that has persuaded one of the world’s most opaque and troublesome regimes to negotiate the dismantling of its nukes.
Imagine an administration has given more than $15bn towards treating HIV/Aids, mainly in Africa; that has hinted it might boycott the Beijing Olympics if China doesn’t intervene to stop Burmese monks from getting slaughtered; that has tried - and failed - to force immigration reform down the throats of its own party; that obsesses about alternative fuels and talks climate change.
Imagine an administration that prefers a diplomatic to a military option in Iran, is in bed with the French, on the sofa with the Germans and in the cooler with the Brits.
Stop imagining. What I have described is the White House of George W Bush in October 2007.
Read the whole thing if you get some time. Just a few more good things this administration has accomplished that it will never recieve credit for.
Comments
There are 6 nations negotiating the North Korea deal and not everybody is on the same page.
China’s involvement in the negotiations is largely due to pressure from usa. Japan standing down in the face of escalating military activity is due to usa. South korea’s very existence in these talks is due to US defence of said country. Russia would be on democratic side of the talks because of thier defeat in the cold war.
Imagine an administration that has persuaded one of the world’s most opaque and troublesome regimes to negotiate the dismantling of its nukes.
Only after pissing them off by pulling their fuel shipments (fuel for disarmement was ridiculed by the dittoheads and Clinton slammed for being a pussy, remember?) so they detonated a nuke and launched a couple missiles to prove they were serious. That got everyone back to the table so we could get back on the same path the Clinton admin put us on. Yay Bush!
Imagine an administration has given more than $15bn towards treating HIV/Aids, mainly in Africa; that has hinted it might boycott the Beijing Olympics if China doesn’t intervene to stop Burmese monks from getting slaughtered; that has tried - and failed - to force immigration reform down the throats of its own party; that obsesses about alternative fuels and talks climate change.
Hints and failures are really success stories! HIV funding is at the same inflation-adjusted levels it has been at since Clinton, an Olympic boycott has no traction (did admin member ever even mention this?), the failure of immigration reform is now a success? He took so much heat over ignoring the science regarding climate change for 5 years that his recent 180 was more a political adjustment than anything else.
Imagine an administration that prefers a diplomatic to a military option in Iran, is in bed with the French, on the sofa with the Germans and in the cooler with the Brits.
Imagine an administration that has backed itself into a corner by ignoring our allies for six years, and couldn’t expand the war to Iran w/o a draft.
Yes Bush has had some modest success in individual, cherry-picked areas, but not these. And any success is going to be buried in his documented history of incompetence. The entirety of the Iraq fiasco, the bungling of Afghanistan and tribal Pakistan, Cheney/Rummy, Guns and Butter fiscal policy that will haunt us for generations. Not to mention the sacrifice of our military in the meat grinder of Iraq, and new entitlement programs.
China’s involvement in the negotiations is largely due to pressure from usa.
Rubbish, China is worried about North Korea becoming a failed state because of the millions of refugees that would turn up on its border; like say Jordan & Syria are currently dealing with after the Iraqi debacle.
North Korea is no threat to China (so why should they care?) apart from this.
Oh, and Manhore, nice to see you quoting from the BBC ;)
Rubbish, China is worried about North Korea becoming a failed state because of the millions of refugees that would turn up on its border; like say Jordan & Syria are currently dealing with after the Iraqi debacle.
Ah, there you are… any link to support this opinion? i’d be interested to see how a nation of 1.2billion would be afraid of a blip on the map like that migration. I’d also be hard pressed to believe China would be afraid to forego human rights and simply mow these refugees down to deter others.
North Korea is no threat to China (so why should they care?) apart from this.
Norks carry a reputation that precedes itself in the face of a nation trying to put a new face on communism. they are China’s alcoholic uncle they’d prefer to hide in the cellar while they entertain guests.
Oh, and Manhore, nice to see you quoting from the BBC ;)
I thought at least you would get a giggle from that choice. :-)
I give Bush credit for *finally* coming to his senses (although one could speculate as to the catalyst). Of course, the majority of the country (including those that post on these boards) appears to have been on those lines of thinking for quite some time.
So, he’s the dumb kid in the back of the class who finally “gets” how to add 2 and 2. yay. Give him the gold star and a lollipop.
I await his successor with fervent anticipation, be it Clinton, Thompson, Paul, Ross Perot, or Mel Carnahan. (Hey, he won against Ashcroft, right?!?)
Talk about the soft bigotry of lowered expectations. When inner city minorities can finally read at the age of 13, do we harp about how the school system doesn’t get credit for it? Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
I’m all for giving credit where credit is due, but a lot of the stuff the article talks about is common sense. Ingratiate yourself to your counterparts in other countries, provide medical assistance to folks in developing countries, condemn totalitarian states when they act out against non-violent protesters—hey you deserve a gold star.
Do you realize how bad it is when we actually have to pat our president on the head for only taking six years to figure shit out? With Bush I think we’ve past the point where we can say: “you know he made some mistakes, but he did a lot of good also”. I don’t know what good he could accomplish in the rest of his term to counterbalance all the crap he’s done.
Ah, there you are… any link to support this opinion? i’d be interested to see how a nation of 1.2billion would be afraid of a blip on the map like that migration. I’d also be hard pressed to believe China would be afraid to forego human rights and simply mow these refugees down to deter others.
Because, amazingly enough, all the refugees will not be spread all across the country but be in one place where they can, and will, cause social unrest.
Links : here and here and here - google will give you another hundred or so.
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There are 6 nations negotiating the North Korea deal and not everybody is on the same page. I can also tell you this: John Bolton doesn’t like it AT ALL. Stay tuned