The battle lines become clearer every day in this upcoming fight for the White
House.
And for all his often "nuanced'' rhetoric over the war in Iraq,
the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. John Kerry [related, bio], is clear now
too. After raising his right hand and swearing to uphold the Constitution of the
United States, this is what a President Kerry says he would do: "I will immediately
reach out to other nations in a very different way from this administration,''
he said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press.'' "I will return to the U.N.
and I will literally, formally rejoin the community of nations and turn over a
proud new chapter in America's relationship with the world.''
In one breath
Kerry insists, "Our country has committed to help the Iraqis build a stable,
peaceful and pluralistic society. No matter who is elected president in November,
we will persevere in that mission.'' On the other hand Kerry insisted Sunday,
"It may well be that we need a new president, a breath of fresh air, to re-establish
credibility with the rest of the world so that we can have a believable administration
as to how we proceed [in Iraq]. . . You cannot bring other nations to the table
through the back door. You cannot have America run the occupation, make all the
reconstruction decisions, make the decisions of the kind of government that will
emerge and pretend to bring other nations to the table.''
Other nations
like maybe Spain, which decides to cut and run the minute its government changes
political parties?
Kerry has made his obsession with internationalism the
cornerstone of his foreign policy. Fine. American voters can understand that perfectly.
Then they can decide whether in the future American foreign policy is governed
by the president and Congress, or whether it will be determined by the French,
the Germans, the Russians and all of those who stood by while terrorism grew and
a brutal dictator was allowed to slaughter his own people.
By Boston Herald
editorial staff Tuesday, April 20, 2004.
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The
Federalist Patriot Founders' Quote Daily:
"But if we are to be told
by a foreign Power...what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence
yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little." --George Washington
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