April COVER Story of "The Prospect" - The Obama Doctrine

[FrenchieCat]

The Obama Doctrine

When Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama met in California for the Jan. 31 debate, their back-and-forth resembled their many previous encounters, with the Democratic presidential hopefuls scrambling for the small policy yardage between them. And then Obama said something about the Iraq War that wasn't incremental at all. "I don't want to just end the war," he said, "but I want to end the mind-set that got us into war in the first place."
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Obama is offering the most sweeping liberal foreign-policy critique we've heard from a serious presidential contender in decades. It cuts to the heart of traditional Democratic timidity. "It's time to reject the counsel that says the American people would rather have someone who is strong and wrong than someone who is weak and right," Obama said in a January speech. "It's time to say that we are the party that is going to be strong and right." (The Democrat who counseled that Americans wanted someone strong and wrong, not weak and right? That was Bill Clinton in 2002.)

But to understand what Obama is proposing, it's important to ask: What, exactly, is the mind-set that led to the war? What will it mean to end it? And what will take its place?

To answer these questions, I spoke at length with Obama's foreign-policy brain trust, the advisers who will craft and implement a new global strategy if he wins the nomination and the general election. They envision a doctrine that first ends the politics of fear and then moves beyond a hollow, sloganeering "democracy promotion" agenda in favor of "dignity promotion," to fix the conditions of misery that breed anti-Americanism and prevent liberty, justice, and prosperity from taking root. An inextricable part of that doctrine is a relentless and thorough destruction of al-Qaeda. Is this hawkish? Is this dovish? It's both and neither -- an overhaul not just of our foreign policy but of how we think about foreign policy. And it might just be the future of American global leadership.

Much, much More..... http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_obama_doctrine

(about the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Ackerman )

[cliffordu]

1. Once again. FrenchieCat, great post.

K and R

[babylonsister]

2. I tried...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=347640

[FrenchieCat]

3. Oops. Didn't see that.

But yours had different excerpts, so it's all good! It is a long, but very important article!

[grasswire]

4. all fine and good....

but what's missing from the article is this: the PTB will not allow an unauthorized direction. How, exactly, is Obama going to implement a plan that would deprive the PTB of their power and profiteering? He'll be squashed.

[Skittles]

5. that's the same problem I have

I have no doubts Obama means what he says - I just don't think he has the means to DO what he says

[FrenchieCat]

6. He didn't truly have the means to make it as far as he did in this nomination process either....

so I wouldn't underestimate Barack Obama. This election may not be the same as others have been.....I tend to think that we have yet to see the Genius of this man.

[Skittles]

7. yes he did

the media focused almost exclusively on Obama and HRC

[FrenchieCat]

8. I don't think he won Iowa based on media. I think he won Iowa

based on who he was...and I think he won many of the other states because he came prepared and organized.

You can take it all away from him, if you wish.......but it will still be there.

[Skittles]

9. they fawned over him and HRC LONG before Iowa

long, LONG before

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[JTFrog]

12. Thanks for the kick!

[grasswire]

13. surely David Axelrod isn't that naive

So I wonder how this is all working internally in the campaign. They have to keep the "fog" and fairy dust working to keep the aura alive. And yet they ought to know how they will deliver on the promises -- the specifics.

Wait, wait. Perhaps it's like Bush's invasion of Iraq. Perhaps there's no plan for the aftermath. Perhaps it will be all SOP.