John McCain has said Obama's approach to foreign relations is "naive" and "shows a lack of experience." By taking that approach he leaves any claims to centrism behind. He is speaking in chorus with George W. Bush, who loudly proclaimed that engaging in negotiations with enemies is engaging in "appeasement" of the enemy.
The McCain/Bush outlook is the same one that has been held by hard right conservatives for several generations. And both of them continue to demonstrate their preference for eliminating facts in order to truncate history to suit their point du jour regardless of what the truth of the situation actually is.
Here is a quick glimpse of the history they are recalling.
Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of The United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940. He was the leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, also known as Tories, which was a group philosophically akin to the Republican Party in America. In 1938 he signed the Munich Agreement which conceded part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. He also gave up the Irish Free State Royal Navy ports in that same year. He was, in fact, terrified by intelligence reports that exaggerated the reach of the German Luftwaffe. The result of his actions? He is now known to have followed an "appeasement" policy with Nazi Germany.
The truth is Chamberlain was unable to prevent World War II because he was unprepared when he held the talks with Hitler. He refused to use professional diplomats and went so far as to rely solely on Hitler's interpreter; he didn't even bother to take his own.
Chamberlain was so focused on being the man "Who Saves Europe" that he lost track of what was, at the time, common sense. He talked himself into believing that he was such a grand and important statesman, that even someone as evil as Hitler could not possibly break his word once the mighty Chamberlain had brokered a deal with him.
But, true conservatives have never let the nuances of truth get in the way of their beliefs. Historically, they have been so rabid at times that they have even spoken out against their own members.
The Conservative Caucus railed against their one-time hero Ronald Reagan while he was working on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and went so far as to take out newspaper ads which stated "Appeasement is as unwise in 1988 as in 1938." It was the Reagan Administration's willingness to stop denouncing the "evil empire" and enter into negotiations which became a primary factor in ending the cold war.
As Samantha Power notes in this week's issue of Time, "The anti-engagers denounced Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy for engaging Nikita Khrushchev over disarmament. They yanked their support for Richard Nixon after he opened up talks with China. They even slammed the hallowed Ronald Reagan for negotiating with Mikhail Gorbachev."
The next president has to be willing to negotiate with the other countries of the world. He needs to surround himself with professional people who are diligent in their preparations; people who will hold the line without going over the top. The United States cannot beat every country that does not agree with us into submission. Nor should we.
We, as voters, must avoid a candidate who continuously recites old worn out rhetoric that represents thinking which has been used repeatedly with failing results. When it comes to foreign policy we should recall the words of John F. Kennedy, "We should never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate."