On Saturday, while the rest of the country is celebrating the 4th of July, the President's national security team will be camped out in the White House situation room. President Obama and his team will be monitoring a North Korean missile test, launched in the direction of Hawaii. We can all celebrate in peace though, assured that the administration's response to the launch will be in line with the new, multi-tooled Smart Power philosophy the Administration has employed for its first half year in office. It is a strategy that has begun to make us and the world safer.
Of course, the president won't be the only one watching the missile launch. So too will former Vice President Dick Cheney and other leading neoconservatives. Unlike President Obama, they feel the appropriate response to every national security issue is "shoot first and ask questions later" with no regard for how non-military tools could be used more effectively. After eight years of bungling virtually every foreign policy dilemma, sowing instability and mistrust across the globe, Mr. Cheney and others now sit back and heckle the president like those two cranky old guys on the balcony of the Muppet Show.
These broadsides are so devoid of any responsible and reasonable analysis, they have become like Mad Libs. Try it out: Just fill in the country or the issue, declare that President Obama is (adjective defining weakness and femininity) and then say that Obama's actions will (destroy, undermine, harm, ruin) America. The problem with these polemics is that they not only sound like rants, they are rants, and they are not constructive. These attacks are disingenuous because when the Bush Administration was in office there was never any sort of military action against the North Koreans despite the fact the North launched multiple missiles tests during their tenure. Ironically, considering all of the neoconservatives' bluster, the Bush administration's reactions to these tests of withdrawing completely from negotiations were both counterproductive and significantly weaker than Obama administration policies. In response, Pyongyang moved forward with its nuclear weapons program.
The truth is that North Korea's missile test, while unwelcome, poses minimal danger. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has stated the maximum distance these missiles could reach is 4,000 miles, or at least five hundred miles short of any Hawaiian Island. North Korea's missile arsenal may be intimidating on the surface, but its practical capabilities are flimsy.
President Obama will use a broad array of options to confront the threat. Anticipating the missile launch, the president vowed last week that America's "extended" nuclear umbrella covered South Korea. Also, the Chinese are beginning to see North Korea's provocations as a direct affront to Beijing. The president and his team noted this development and recently convinced the Chinese to support the strongest UN sanctions ever imposed on North Korea, forbidding them to export arms or import any weapons larger than rifles. The combination of Chinese endorsement of these stringent sanctions and America's nuclear pledge to South Korea is by far the strongest action ever taken by a US president since the end of the Korean War.
It is important to note however, that this tough response is also smart, explicitly trying to avoid military escalation unless absolutely necessary. Force is still always an option for the Obama administration. But it is a last resort. That is the hallmark of the Obama Smart Power approach: use all the instruments of national power to achieve your goals, not just the military.
We can see this unfolding in the Korea conflict and around the world. One striking example is the recent shift towards stronger diplomatic engagement, military collaboration and expanded humanitarian aid in Pakistan, an effort that has helped the Pakistani government do more to combat Islamist extremist groups like al Qaeda and the Taliban in the last five months than in the past five years.
In early June, perhaps the leading neoconservative pundit Bill Kristol called for air strikes against North Korea, exemplifying the reckless personalities that controlled the White House during the Bush years. Thankfully we have a new president, one who understands that the Smart Power tools: Diplomacy, Defense and Development are all at his disposal to protect our country, and he is willing to use every one of them when needed.
I also love how you imply that some how Liberals don't want to keep the country safe... since, as we all know, the only way to keep this country safe is for Bin Laden to launch a major attack.. right? It was liberals that said that... right?
If this is so, how come Iran's amd N. Korea's nuclear facilities are intact?
How come we haven't heard of this "Smart Power Philosophy"? How smart is it to reduce missile defense in the face of N. Korea and Iran? How smart is it to try and end F-22 fighter production in the face of Cuba, Venezuela, Mongolia, Viet Nam, China, Syria, Venezuela and other "friendly" coutnries getting modern Russian aircraft? (And if it is so useless, why don;t we build and sell 200 of them to Japan as Japan wants?)
As to non-Military tools - Just what are they? The French are unhappy with Obama's snub of Sarkozy. THe Birts aren't terribly happy with him. The Israelis are afraid of him. Hugo chavez isn't afraid of Obama while he imposes his dictatorship. Hunduran's whate a president who followed their constitution wiht a two term limit but Obama doesn't think their consititution should be obey. (How about ours?)
I don't see Syria, Iran or N. Korea showing the slightest positive response to Obama.
Missle defense has been reduced by cutting programs that show no results. Those that do still have funding. The F-22 is over-priced, over-designed, and UNUSED in modern combat. They're an Air Superiority fighter. Hardly useful in fighting militia's and terrorists. The F-35's are much more versitle, as they can be used as air support, bombers, AND air superiority. Silly Gates, cutting costs by removing programs that are useless. The term "modern Russian aircraft" is funny.. thats like saying "modern horse-drawn cart". There isn't an airforce on earth that can match the US airforce at any level.
And frankly, the US demand that North Korea give up it's nuclear program while refusing to end the state of war is insultingly ridiculous. Would you agree to something like that?
I think you are afraid of her. You are afraid of the things she accomplished in office. You are afraid that the voters will be impressed.
Did not Jimmy Carter make a deal with North Korea at the behest of Billly Clinton? Yes he did.
And the N. Koreans said they didn't honor the deal of 1 day even though the U.S. honored its side of the bargain.,
Do you really think that every coutnry in the world thinks liek Obama and wants peace?
Although, I admit, saying, "Wow! We are so lucky to have a level headed intelligent, thinking president!" isn't nearly as tittilating as "the only way to save America is if Bin Laden attacks." Sad and sick.
The noise from the other side is so bizarre and contentious that it's hard to hear. (of course, sometimes it is even funny) We've got a guy on Fox saying that the only way to save America is if Bin Laden attacks, so we will finally respond with as much violence as necessary. What is wrong with these people? Why are they so afraid of a peaceful solution, they just want to go in with guns blazing, no questions asked. They put a small price on human life.