George Costanza approach to foriegn policy

[clacy]

Basically the last two Presidents (and largely public opinion) should have done the exact opposite of what they did in the Middle East, and foreign policy in general.

Bush got us into Iraq.... Huge mistake (although this stance was pretty much agreed upon by public opinion)

Obama pulls out, way too fast after inheriting a bad situation with the intention of letting these countries sort out their own affairs.... Huge mistake (again public opinion has no appetite for intervention, at the exact wrong time in history).

Both policy decisions have been proven to be disasters.

Maybe in the future, we can take the George Costanza approach and do the EXACT opposite of what our natural instincts are.

[Reub]

Yes just like with my variable portfolio!

[barrett]

Clacy,

I hate to break into a good George Costanza thread but my recollection is that there was quite a lot of public opposition to invading Iraq in 2003. There was a lot of opposition from Demos to the "use of force" resolution and virtually none from the Repubs. Really a huge blunder and it was all so painful because you could see it coming for months in advance. Yeah, it seems Obama pulled out to quickly but he was left with no good alternatives after the US went in and broke a deeply flawed but relatively stable power arrangement.

Man, sorry about that. I love Seinfeld.

[clacy]

Clacy,

I hate to break into a good George Costanza thread but my recollection is that there was quite a lot of public opposition to invading Iraq in 2003. There was a lot of opposition from Demos to the "use of force" resolution and virtually none from the Repubs. Really a huge blunder and it was all so painful because you could see it coming for months in advance. Yeah, it seems Obama pulled out to quickly but he was left with no good alternatives after the US went in and broke a deeply flawed but relatively stable power arrangement.

Man, sorry about that. I love Seinfeld.

Wrong.

It had wide public opinion support and was voted on in a bi-partisan manner including 56% of DEMOCRATIC Senators and in the House Dems voted 82 Yeas / 126 Nays.

Public support was in the 60's and 70's in opinion polls.  You rarely get that kind of agreement sadly.

http://www.pewresearch.org/2007/03/15/t ... -20032007/

http://www.gallup.com/poll/7990/public- ... pward.aspx

http://www.gallup.com/poll/8038/seventy ... -iraq.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution

[barrett]

Clacy,

I stand corrected. I hadn't looked at the numbers recently. What I remember from those few months leading up to the March 2003 invasion was a lot of small anti-invasion demonstrations. I was traveling a lot throughout the US on business at the time and would see protests in little out-of-the-way places. So at least some of that minority was vocal... at least enough so to get my attention.

[Pointedstick]

I remember the same thing, barrett. I was alternately traveling internationally and safely ensconced in my college town liberal enclave so I saw a lot of the anti-war movement up close and personal, and from my perspective it seemed like America had gone mad.

In retrospect, I think I was right.