Why I First Began Leaning Democratic: Foreign Policy

Without going into specifics, let me just note that Obama has reminded me why I began leaning Democratic in the first place.

When I first became dimly politically aware in my callow youth, I sympathized with the GOP. They had a reputation for being tough on the USSR, and it was clear that the Soviets were, indeed, the focus of evil in the world. A fair number of liberals were wont to deny that latter point, and that didn't help their case.

It didn't take many years, however, for me to see that the Democrats who really mattered did not take a soft line on the USSR. Carter believed in working for human rights, in speaking softly, and in carrying a big stick. The GOP, I soon realized, thought that stomping around and beating our collective chest counted as clever foreign policy. Furthermore, they were willing to get in bed with any tin-horn dictator, no matter how brutal, if said dictator would profess anti-communist sympathies. Even Saddam Hussein and Pinochet were not too murderous for conservatives. And, of course, I soon began to realize that it wasn't exactly totalitarianism they were against. Rather, it was socialism, even of a democratic variety. Brutal and anti-democratic regimes were just fine...so long as they didn't spread the wealth around too equally.

Obama's foreign policy has thus far been intelligent and judicious. He's reached out to friends and enemies alike, all of whom were alienated by Bush/Cheney. Where our military efforts were unwarranted (Iraq), he's moved to pull back. Where they were warranted (Afghanistan) he's pushed harder. He's reached out to the Islamic world in general, and refrained from the wild, unsubstantiated charges against Iran that the previous administration made. However, now that substantial evidence of wrong-doing has emerged, he has also moved to take a harder line. The harder line, of course, is more reasonable given that the softer line was tried, and it will be recognized as more reasonable by many observers.

Standard-issue Democratic foreign policy is rational, standard Republican foreign policy is irrational. Neither side runs entirely true to form, and I'm perfectly willing to abandon the Dems and support the GOP in those cases in which the latter is right and the former are wrong. But in the main, GOP foreign policy drives the U.S. to look like the proverbial frightened bully unsure of his own stature. Under their guidance, we strut and posture and threaten and just generally make repellent fools of ourselves. Everyone hates us because everyone hates a bully.

What I've learned in life is that it Teddy R was absolutely right when he recommended speaking softly and carrying a big stick. That's one of the few pieces of advice that I know with certainty to be good.

In terms of foreign policy, the Democrats, flawed though they may be, have (or have had, in my lifetime at least) a fairly reliable tendency to do the right thing and make us into the admirable country we ought to be. The GOP tends to make us into something pathetic, loathsome and irrational. It's astounding that the GOP used to have a reputation as the foreign policy party when, in fact, it is the Democrats that are clearly superior in that regard.