Will Obama Stay the Course?

I do so want to believe that Barack Obama is on the right track. His brain is big, his style fresh, his pronouncements both logical and compelling, and it does feel good to have a president-elect elicit universal respect rather than make the world cringe. Indeed, he's downright inspiring when he defends constitutional restraint on the presidency and shuns torture. Bush is so yesterday, but imagine how panicked we would now be if John McCain and Sarah Palin were about to take a turn at the wheel.

Yet, it all does hang on him. Yes, Obama. The superstar, and not that supporting cast of retreads from a failed past that have popped up in his administration in the making. Now that we have the list of his top economic and foreign policy picks--mostly a collection of folks who wouldn't know change if it slapped them upside the head--we've got to hope that it's Obama who is using them, and not the other way around.

Maybe he picked a bunch of Wall Street insiders to send a comforting message to the financial community that Obama was turning to folks just like them to get us out of the mess that they created. So far, Wall Street hasn't done anything to pay back the taxpayers for the upward-of-a-trillion dollars wasted on that bailout. The credit markets remain frozen, and these banking grinches are stealing Christmas by further cutting individuals' credit lines.

If there is a grand arc to Obama's appointments strategy, it seems aimed at providing the appearance of continuity on the part of a leader who still promises to be very different. Clearly that was the case in retaining Robert Gates as secretary of defense and Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his White House national security adviser. Both choices could have been far worse. Jones has been involved in the exercise of "soft power" initiatives and seems like an otherwise sensible fellow. Gates has been a vast improvement over Donald Rumsfeld in grasping the limits of military power.

Gates also dared challenge the military-industrial complex over egregious military spending on projects such as the $65 billion F-22 stealth fighter plane that was designed to penetrate Soviet air defenses that were never built and has yet to fly a combat sortie in either the Afghanistan or Iraq wars. That's a start on cutting military spending, which under President Bush grew to be higher than at any time since World War II, exceeding the levels of both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Thanks to Bush, the United States now spends as much as all of the rest of the world's nations combined to defeat an enemy armed with a weapons arsenal that, in the case of the 9/11 attacks, could have been purchased for a couple hundred bucks at Home Depot.

Unfortunately, on Monday Obama stuck with the absurd "war on terror" language he inherited from Bush in describing the attacks in Mumbai conducted by 10 lightly armed fanatics who should have been quickly dispatched by a well-functioning local paramilitary force. These terrorists did not, as available evidence would indicate, have anything to do with the Taliban or al-Quaida based in Afghanistan, where the United States continues to wage the good war, as opposed to the bad one in Iraq, that Obama invoked during the presidential campaign: "Afghanistan is where the war on terror began and where it must end."

Both wars are bad in representing exactly the wrong way to deal with "terror," which should properly be thought of as representing pathology to be excised with surgical precision rather than bludgeoned with conventional warfare, which only recruits new fanatics through the killing of innocent civilians.

Finally, the appointment of Hillary Rodham Clinton seems a good one. To paraphrase Obama's remark during the primary debates, Hillary is peaceable enough, and also has the smarts to make a fine secretary of state. Her more hawkish rhetorical side will be muted by the position's obligation to emphasize diplomacy. My prediction is that she will leave her mark by exploiting her pro-Israel creds to complete President Bill Clinton's once promising Mideast peace initiatives to finally provide the Palestinians, and Israelis, with viable states.

The problem with Obama's national security team is not that he has picked hawks who he cannot control; they are all professionals, who took the job expecting to go along with his game plan. The danger here, as with his economic advisers, is only that Obama may stop being Obama, the agent of change who electrified a nation.

Robert Scheer is author of a new book, "The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America."

Comments

[ema]

Dear Mr. Scheer,

Thank you so much for this post.

I am excited and hopeful for the new administration as I believe Obama to be a man of both intellect and heart. (Unlike Bush who had neither.)

However, like you, I was dismayed when I heard him continue to take cues from the rhetoric of the Bush Administration re: "the war on terror."

It has long been Obama's contention that we must hunt down Al Quaeda in the mountains of Pakistan and capture or kill Bin Laden. As you said, the "good war" vs the "bad war."

So now we have begun limited unilateral military operations in the these regions. We have been killing civilians.

The violence in Mumbai had everything to do with increasing anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. Military force is not the way to fight terror. It's time to dismantle the failed "war on terror" before it spirals into an ever more sickening cycle of violence.. It's time for us to recreate both the discourse and the course of action.

We shall see.

[Michale32086]

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The violence in Mumbai had everything to do with increasing anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.
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Assumes facts not in evidence..

Michale.....

[Jayakumar]

It is not India vs. Pakistan. It is not Pakistan vs. U.S.A. It is in fact a bunch of ultra-religious Muslim fanatics vs. the rest of the world, which they believe are infidels who needs to be either converted to their faith or mercilessly killed.

Their nation is not the country where they live in, but their religion. They do not make the distinction between the military and civilians - look at what happened in Mumbai and elsewhere.

They hate the U.S. not because of Pakistan, but because of the fact that the U.S. as a nation is proving their ideology wrong every day. Obama as president elect is a case in point.

The world tried to wish away Adolf Hitler and we know what happened. Let us not repeat the same mistake again.

Jay, from Bangalore

[mjc]

As several of the survivors of the Mumbai shootings said, both Muslims, these terrorists were not interested in killing only non-Muslims. Many of the Indians who were killed were indeed Muslims. These were a fanatical, lunatic groups of only 10 just out of the teenage category who were themselves intent on killing and expecting to be killed. They made no real distinction between Muslim and Christian and even "Europeans" or "westerners" and South Asians. Their message was not very clear judging by those they shot.

[Michale32086]

LizM

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Michale,
You mean the EXTREME left, right?...otherwise known as crazy progressives?
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AKA the hysterical Left.. Sho' nuff.... :D

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And, the new admin will not be hanging on to the Bush WOT script, if you know who has anything to say about the matter...and he will...you can bet the farm on that - even if it's in Iowa!!!
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Ooooooo, I love the subtle Trek reminders!! :D

"Actually, I am from Iowa.. I only work in outer space."
-Admiral James T Kirk, STAR TREK IV

But, when you consider PE Obama's support for HR6304, I think you might be surprised at how much the Obama administration follows Bush's lead in the War On Terror..

And the hysterical Left becoming even MORE hysterical over that will truly be a sight to behold..

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Take care!
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Du auch.... :D

Michale.....

[LizM]

Michale,

..."Trek reminders!!"...the heck d'ya mean? I was, of course, referring to the 'Fiasco in Iowa' in early January of this year, don'tcha know. I'm still getting over of the pain of it all but expect to be in full recovery mode very soon at which time I shall retire the qualifier, forever.

Elizabeth

:-)

[Michale32086]

Ahhhh And here I thought you were being a subtle Trekker.. :D

Michale.....

[sloLes]

For years, I sold software development expertise in Silicon valley. the surest sign of problems ahead was when a potential client began telling me that all his/her technical people were top-notch. I quietly thought that our SF 49ers were world champions and they had only six to eight All-Stars on their roster.

So, I find Obama's analogy of an orchestra very encouraging. We need competent people who play their role in most positions. They can't all be 'impact players.' And often, the creative ideas behind the big action come from people along the sidelines.

So, yes I am looking forward to dumping the Bush-defined 'war on terrorism.' As we've seen recently, nations as diverse as China and India are also staunchly opposed to small groups reeking chaos through society. We're also seeing an unprecedented willingness of many countries to cooperate to halt worldwide economic meltdown. So, our team needs to listen & learn, not just lead. Our creditors are holding trillions of dollars of our debt. Obama needs to play to a bigger audience than just the people who voted for him.

[PalmG]

Thank you Mrs. Scheer for sounding the alarm. You may get lambasted by the nincompoops who haven't finished drinking their kool-aid, but your article raises very legitimate concerns.

[Michale32086]

As someone who has more than a passing knowledge of terrorism, I can assure you that the only alarm that needs to be raised is against those who are completely ignorant of the threat posed and, therefore, would simply ignore the threat...

Oh, and.... I think the proper way to address the author is "MR Scheer". :D

Michale.....

[chaos4700]

And what exactly is "more than a passing knowledge of terrorism," pray tell?

[Michale32086]

@LizM

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Hey, Michale!

Well, I wouldn't want to sound like a bad broken record, ya know (Ha!) But, you know he'll set the President Elect straight on the Bush War on Terror script, too!
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I think that those on the Left are going to be unpleasantly surprised by how much the new Administration hangs on to that Bush WOT script..

Ever read a book called THE JESUS FACTOR???

Michale.....

[chaos4700]

Keep on living that neocon dream, buddy. Keep on living that dream.

[LizM]

Michale,

You mean the EXTREME left, right?...otherwise known as crazy progressives? And, the new admin will not be hanging on to the Bush WOT script, if you know who has anything to say about the matter...and he will...you can bet the farm on that - even if it's in Iowa!!!

Take care!

[weatherwaxx]

I think President Obama will chart his own course.

[AbrahamSadegh]

Let us be hopeful that Obama's choice of leaders who will be able to stand up to him is truly a sign of strength and not inclusiveness as an end in itself for that would place him at the center of circle being pulled in all directions sapping his energy and extinguishing his promise of meaningful change. He has said that the buck will stop with him and he should be taken at his word.

Let us also hope that a monumental change needed to insure the ultimate health of our society is to bring the highest level of national consciousness the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces during WWII our President Eisenhower's warning three days before leaving the office that, "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

We have the responsibility to utilize our resources more wisely and humanely than being number one in the world is selling of arms and for our military budget to be equal to the rest of the world combined.

[BobLablah]

I hope he stays the course because everything he's doing is a repeat of the Bush and Clinton policies, and those are the right things to do. Thank God he he's not doing any of the crazy things he said he'd do during the campaign.

[Fuji]

Ha ha. Touche, sir.

[hyjanks]

Bobbie, Bobbie, Bobbie! What you fail to allude to in your essay is that we're dealing with a guy who personally ran the most sophisticated campaign in modern history, in the processs sending a bunch of racists, bigots, social misfits and politically inept Scrooges to their well-deserved and reserved dust bin of history.
(Not that you had to be all that sophisticated to beat the likes of I-can-see-Russia-from-my-front-porch-Sarah Palin and Pathetic Old Warhorse McCain).
If Obama and his staff run the country half as well as they trounced the Grand Old Putzes, I think we'll be in good hands.
You must have missed Obama's last press conference, Bob. You know, the one in which he reiterated that he was the concert master of an orchestra composed of old and new musicians; the one in which he will take sole responsibility for the success or failure of his composition; presumably, the one in which the French Horn soloist will be out practicing his trade in a subway station should he hit too many sour notes on the job.
Give the guy some time. We'll know in a short while if his Symphony For the Common Man plays well to his audience.

[LizM]

You're forgetting about someone!

And, not just anyone but the most influential member of Obama's national security and foreign policy team who has a proven record of recognizing and effecting change long before it has a chance to slap him upside the head - in fact, he's done a good chunk of the slapping in that regard himself...if you know what I mean and I'm sure that you do!

[Michale32086]

Hmmmmmm Who could you POSSIBLY be referring to!?? :D

Hi Liz!!!

Michale.....

[LizM]

Hey, Michale!

Well, I wouldn't want to sound like a bad broken record, ya know (Ha!) But, you know he'll set the President Elect straight on the Bush War on Terror script, too!

[Michale32086]

-Mr Scheer

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Maybe he picked a bunch of Wall Street insiders to send a comforting message to the financial community that Obama was turning to folks just like them to get us out of the mess that they created.
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Actually, Obama turned to the people not JUST LIKE the ones that created the mess. Obama turned to the people who had a HAND in creating the mess..

I would also point out the fact that PE Obama stuck to Bush's War On Terror script because, in my not so humble opinion, it's the right script to follow..

-Jayakumar

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Get the facts right please. The terrorists who stuck Mumbai were trained by Pakistani intelligence.
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Assumes facts not in evidence...

Other than that, you are correct that these terrorists were heavily armed and well trained and certainly not the "lightly armed fanatics" that Mr Scheer would portray them to be,

Michale.....

[Jayakumar]

Get the facts right please. The terrorists who stuck Mumbai were trained by Pakistani intelligence. They were armed to the teeth, and had sophisticated support from Pakistan (Sat Phones, etc). They killed about 200 people, including 6 U.S. citizens.

Others in the same group were responsible for the attack on the Indian parliament a couple of years back.

By speaking out against these fanatics, Obama was only reaffirming his high values. He will be respected for it.

Jay, from Bangalore