Article

2004-09-04 Home Front: Politix

Walter Russell Mead grades Bush foreign policy

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-09-04 7:44:45 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Rubbing salt was a part of a resuscitation effort. Unfortunately, the corpse is mostly dead, rather than mostly alive.

Posted by Zarathustra 2004-09-04 9:54:01 AM|| 2004-09-04 9:54:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Grrrrrr. Mead makes an excellent case for discounting his opinions - his schizophrenia is running amok. He's almost honest, almost insightful, almost clear and almost worth listening to. He lays out arguments in one direction, then sort of apologetically concludes in the opposite. Repeatedly. Some of what he says, such as "rubbing salt in wounds", is just idiocy.

His observations on Clinton are a no-brainer - though you seldom encounter anyone willing to tell the ex-Emperor he's naked these days. He seems to be fighting some internal battle between deserving his reputation and playing the deluded cloistered Ivy League academic twitter. This must be a ploy to keep those cocktail party invitations coming in, but not lose all self-respect in the process.

A for effort / C- for achievement summed to an Incomplete. Must be nice to have zero deliverables and just sit in judgement on others - second-guessing, quibbling, splitting hairs. Grrrrr. Right. Well, sonny, some things just aren't microwavable. Have cake. Eat it too. Must be tenured.

Sorry, Mrs D - I appreciate the post. Mead's a head case, methinks.

Posted by .com 2004-09-04 10:38:18 AM|| 2004-09-04 10:38:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 .com, no offence taken. I think the whole report card idea is sort of juvenile my self and that's why I didn't include it. But his thoughts on Eruope and Asia in the midle para are interesting and might stir up some comentary by the always well informed Ranters.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-09-04 10:46:48 AM|| 2004-09-04 10:46:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 The "Incomplete" thing does seems like a cop-out to me. However, note that Mead says he would have given Clinton the same grade at the end of his first term. On the whole, it sounds like an argument for a second Bush term.

What I found interesting was the remark that under Clinton, everyone thought that terrorism had been pretty much dealt with. Uh-huh.

As for the salt in wounds, that's just plain American talk, rather than Euro diplo-speak:
"You guys are old has-beens"
"We demand an apology!"
"Ok. We're sorry you guys are old has-beens"

Posted by SteveS 2004-09-04 2:40:25 PM|| 2004-09-04 2:40:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 a Teutonic, not tectonic shift

Posted by Frank G 2004-09-04 3:09:19 PM|| 2004-09-04 3:09:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Good one, Frank!

Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-09-04 3:20:51 PM|| 2004-09-04 3:20:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 The euros are becoming more insular and more more deluded by their own propaganda telling them how important they are. They really aren't, and their own opinions are walling them off. The future lies to the east,and we need to be involved in it. A billion lying cheating Chinese and a billion underhanded Indians both bear carefull watching.

Posted by Slumming 2004-09-04 4:16:01 PM|| 2004-09-04 4:16:01 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 The euros are becoming more insular and more more deluded by their own propaganda telling them how important they are. They really aren't, and their own opinions are walling them off. The future lies to the east,and we need to be involved in it. A billion lying cheating Chinese and a billion underhanded Indians both bear carefull watching.

I would have to agree that the Chinese are generally liars and cheaters, but the Indians deserve better than that. They will give you exactly what they said they would. Not one whit more. Does not mean that they will give you what you thought you were getting, but that is semantics . . .

Posted by Jame Retief 2004-09-04 8:14:56 PM|| 2004-09-04 8:14:56 PM|| Front Page Top

18:51 GreatestJeneration
10:31 RJSchwarz
08:12 Frank G
08:09 Frank G
07:39 Col Flagg
07:25 Shipman
01:09 Zenster
01:07 Classical_Liberal
00:23 .com
00:13 UFO TROLL
00:06 lex
23:48 BigEd
23:43 badanov
23:40 lex
23:39 BigEd
23:34 lex
23:30 BombIranNow
23:29 lex
23:26 Mark Espinola
23:24 Alaska Paul
23:20 Classical_Liberal
23:19 Capt America
23:17 Capt America
23:09 lex