This morning leading neoconservatives such as William Kristol and Robert Kagan held a meeting at the Mayflower Hotel -- in support of President Obama's Afghanistan policy. Kristol and Kagan, as Foreign Policy's Laura Rozen has reported, have formed a successor organization to the Project for the New American Century, which came into disrepute for its advocacy of the Iraq War. The new one is called the Foreign Policy Initiative. Its contention is that America remains, in the words of Madeleine Albright, the "indispensable nation"and, furthermore, that neocons can play a valuable role in coming years in ensuring that it remains one.
At the Mayflower, the neocon pilgrims huddled around John McCain and other conservative stalwarts who spoke at the conference. But California congressman Jane Harman was also a speaker. It's clear that that neoconservatives are staking out a new course and want to retain an influential voice in foreign policy. Their latest strategy is to move closer to Obama. Kagan has already expressed his admiration for what he sees as Obama's determination to ensure that America remains No. 1 around the globe.
The idea that the intellectual champions of the Iraq War are now trying to reach an alliance with Obama is certainly a tribute to neocon audacity. But it's also an inevitable development. The neocons have always been interventionists first, then conservatives. In fact, many traditional conservatives argue that there isn't much that's conservative about neoconservatism. In any case, the neocons aren't going away.
For now, the founding of the Foreign Policy Initiative suggests that there will be a fierce battle for the soul of the Obama administration between liberal hawks and neocons, on the one side, and between anti-interventionist progressives, on the other, over policy towards Afghanistan, Russia, China, and Iran.
Who's going to win it?
They got busted trying to control Wall Street, the Big Banks, Oil rich Mid East, Black and Caspian Sea oil pipeline region with American lives and money.
They used GW Bush as a Hood Ornament.
Now the 'Israeli Diaspora' moves on to the new guy and like you say, become neo liberals.
They move slowly like an octopus with tentacles Metastasizing throughout the power centers in the Westen nations to control what we read, think and what we see, censuring any other sources of information in the guise of protecting us from "Hate Speech", "Pornography."
Infiltrating our government and our police, military do their bidding
That's why they allowed him to run for President.
Let's not lose sight of the facts re: Afghanistan and Pakistan -- Obama is both trying to pick up a foreign policy in disarray and to accomplish America's original goal of 2001 to shut down Al Qaida. You may opt to give the Neocons some points for realizing their abject failure and to grant them some legitimacy by mentioning them with Obama's policy. To give the Neocons either is to give them too much credit.
Make no mistake -- the Neocons will not be in any position to influence Obama's policy. However, it's clear that Obama's policy and future successes will influence the Neocons positioning and refabrication of history.
When will you stop adoring Obama and realize he is nothing but G W Bush but with better rhetoric.
What type of kool-air, really, has the American press drank that they repeat such stories?
NO one really ' wins ' And the only 'strategy neocons have is this- Get back power & CONTRO BACK-
so their deregulation policies to allow bankers & WAll st to conduct unethical greedy ( illegaL ) business practices ) and to sell ' junk ' securities as TRIPLE AAA. LIKE Wall ST tycoon Bernie Madoff & his cohorts. ALL belong in jail .Cause folks that's exactly what happened-from Reagan forward.
They left a legacy of no ethics- incredible greed & business dealings that should have been ILLEGAL but isn't - because of deregulation.
The one crop than bring enough revenue to cover cost of 1 war and Obama dissed the idea at town hall.
Obama rather take a loan, with taxpayer's children cosign.
Its my belief that Afghanistan is more than we can handle. That society has age old problems.
The Neocons aggressively decimated our economy over the past fifteen years and this is no time to start capitulating with them when we have the presidency and a majority in Congress. Ralph Nader’s assumption that both party’s are essentially a Duopoly, answerable only to the same global corporate power base, are starting to ring true !
So far that is not good enough for Progressives that demand real change or threaten tax revolt.
. Madoff's not the only criminal with a scheme on Wall st / banks. Go ahead vote for the far right- we'll get more of the same/ 20 of the last 28 years-they have had the power / control. Just made themselves 100 times richer- while just stepping over us.
Google enron loophole - thats a real eye opener-and it went on all the time.
1. Cheneys Halliburton made billions in Iraq- some for work NEVER DONE.
2. McCain buddy- Sen Phil Gramm passed the Enron Loophole- which allowed his wife to make 900 K off that deal- GOP deregulation policy made that perfectly legal.
3. Enron employees' lost everything in that ' dirty deal '
I could go on and on. so much dirt and greed and unethical dealings on Wall st & by banks.
The neocons are of course supporting this step into failure for Obama, thinking they can just cut loose from any democrat when his failure becomes apparent. But by the end of Obama's term it would outweigh his whole domestic program. It's easy to forget that Lyndon Johnson was once too a progressive.
But unlike the Vietnam era, unlike even the Bush era, this time this country can't withstand the waste of another trillion dollars and of untold lives, American and others, before again accepting stalemate. We will be facing something like societal collapse and I hope America wakes up to it in time.