Call me cynical, but, why am I still bothered by Brzezinski's endorsement of Obama?

[Emit]

This may be old news to some here. I know it was a topic of some discussion in GD a while back.

Despite some level-headed input on the above-noted GD thread, as I look at this from a larger perspective, I remain uncomfortable with this association between Obama and Brzezinski. My own knowledge about Brzezinski might be sorely limited, but I have heard Brzezinski described as a highly intelligent neo-imperialist bad-ass, among other things.

Any thoughts and insight from others who are looking at this from a larger perspective? Serious discussion only, please. Dislosure: I cast my 2nd vote/preference for Obama in my NV caucus because my Edwards' groups was not viable.


I've included some of the comments in the TWN/Steve Clemons piece here -- They point to some of my concerns.

August 24, 2007
Brzezinski Endorses Obama; Calls Hillary Clinton's Foreign Policy "Very Conventional"

~snip~

Sending an important signal, Brzezinski has just endorsed Barack Obama's candidacy over Hillary Clinton's. Brzezinski is one of the greatest strategic minds alive today and does understand the need to make changes in policy today to generate different outcomes tomorrow.

Influential foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius anticipated the themes of Brzezinski's statement in an important Washington Post piece, "The Pragmatic Obama," earlier this week.

In an article just published by Bloomberg's Janine Zacharia, Brzezinski is reported to have said that "Obama recognizes that the challenge is a new face, a new sense of direction, a new definition of America's role in the world.''

Brzezinski made the comments in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt." (Here is full transcript, courtesy of Bloomberg)

More from the Zacharia article:

"Obama is clearly more effective and has the upper hand," Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, said. "He has a sense of what is historically relevant, and what is needed from the United States in relationship to the world."
Brzezinski, 79, dismissed the notion that Clinton, 59, a New York senator and the wife of former President Bill Clinton, is more seasoned than Obama, 46. "Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president," Brzezinski said.

Clinton's foreign-policy approach is "very conventional," Brzezinski said. "I don't think the country needs to go back to what we had eight years ago."

"There is a need for a fundamental rethinking of how we conduct world affairs," he added. "And Obama seems to me to have both the guts and the intelligence to address that issue and to change the nature of America's relationship with the world."

~snip~

-- Steve Clemons

Posted by steve at August 24, 2007 02:59 PM

~snip~
Comments

~snip~

"He (Zbig) has a sense of what is historically relevant, and what is needed from the United States in relationship to the world."

He sure does have ideas on what's relevant. Extract from a 1998 interview with Zbig:

Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?

B: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

~snip~

Many people know that Zbig and Jimmy Carter were on the Trilateral Commission, after which Zbig was a prominent member of the Carter Administration.

But fewer people know that Zbig was also, though less prominently, a member of the Reagan Administration. Zbig's tough hardline approach was compatible, or compatible enough anyway, with the Reaganites.

And few people know that Zbig endorsed Vice-President George H. W. Bush for president in 1988, not Governor Dukakis.

However, Zbig opposed the 1991 Gulf War, which he said would have more costs than benefits. He predicted that it would generate a wave of anti-USA resentment in the Arab and Islamic world.

So what to make of such a record? Zbig supported Carter's military interventions, in dozens of places around the world, and Zbig urged the Clinton Administration to conduct interventions, and Zbig supported Reagan and Bush-41 . . . and now Zbig endorses Senator Obama.

I guess that's great news for people who believe the proper role of the Democratic Party is to be the slighter saner side of the War Party.

But what about people who don't think the U.S.A. should have a military budget greater than the rest of the world, combined?

Posted by: Goober at August 24, 2007 08:47 PM

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002294.php



Here's an audio interview from back in May 2007 with Brzezinski, discussing Obama: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/05/24




And here's an article back in March of 2007, where David Ignatius seems almost prescient on the matter:

A Manifesto For the Next President
By David Ignatius

Zbigniew Brzezinski has written a new book that might be a foreign policy manifesto for Barack Obama. Its message is that America can recover from what Brzezinski calls the "catastrophic" mistakes of the Bush administration, but only if the next president makes a clean break from those policies and aligns the country with a world in transformation.

The former national security adviser says he hasn't yet picked the candidate who could deliver on his book's title of a " Second Chance" for America to reverse its decline as a superpower. But by stressing the need for a foreign policy makeover, his prescriptions seem tailor-made for a certain junior senator from Illinois. ...

~snip~

"Second Chance" is structured as an analysis of how the past three presidents missed the chance to create a true American superpower after the Cold War ended. ...

~snip~

The most intriguing part of Brzezinski's book is what I would describe as the Obama manifesto. (He doesn't call it that, but I don't think he would quarrel with that characterization, either.) Brzezinski argues that the world is undergoing a "global political awakening," which is apparent in radically different forms from Iraq to Indonesia, from Bolivia to Tibet. Though America has focused on its notion of what people want (democracy and the wealth created by free trade and open markets), Brzezinski points in a different direction: It's about dignity.

"The worldwide yearning for human dignity is the central challenge inherent in the phenomenon of global political awakening," he argues. His worry is that America -- enfeebled by "material self-indulgence, persistent social shortcomings, and public ignorance about the world" -- may not get it.

The next president, Brzezinski writes, will need "an instinctive grasp of the spirit of the times in a world that is stirring, interactive, and motivated by a vague but pervasive sense of prevailing injustice in the human condition." Is that person Barack Obama? It's impossible to know. The man is still largely a blank slate. But Brzezinski has described the challenge of future American leadership with unusual clarity. If we don't pick a leader with these qualities, Brzezinski warns, we will miss our second and perhaps last chance.

How would Obama and other candidates in both parties respond to the test the old Columbia professor poses here? That's a debate I hope we will see.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/a_manifesto_for_the_next_presi.html

[MADem]

1. Ahh, no wonder Daughter Mika keeps pumping up the Obama volume! NT

[Clinton Crusader]

7. And she doesn't hide it one iota..

sits there shaking her head, that condescending smile, knocking Hillary, oops! sorry! that's a NBC trademark!

[Emit]

10. I read somewhere that brother Mark is an adviser to the Obama campaign, as well

I think he worked in the Clinton administration, too.

[davidinalameda]

2. Brzezinski has always struck me as a realist

he's old school; I think he emigrated from Eastern Europe while it was still under the communists

I think for him to endorse Obama really gives him gravitas, if that's the right word

I don't think this is an endorsement against Hillary but for Obama

this is another in a long line of endorsements for Obama that really impress me and makes me glad that I voted for him

[TomClash]

3. He's demanding and complicated

I was once one of his students. He is incredibly gifted and compassionate. He had a hatred for what the Soviets had done to Poland, but he is surprisingly liberal on most other issues. I don't know if neo-imperialist bad-ass would be an accurate description - he staunchly opposed the Iraq War from day one.

[Emit]

4. What class did you take from him?

And when and where, if I may inquire? That's really interesting -- I would love to have had him as an instructor.

[TomClash]

9. It was a 9000 seminar at Columbia

A long time ago. I can't remember the name now - there were about 12 students - national security policy was the topic. He was excellent.

[Emit]

15. Says here that he was on faculty of Columbia until 1989 - Obama graduated Columbia in '83

"Brzezinski was on the faculty of Harvard University from 1953 to 1960, and of Columbia University from 1960 to 1989 where he headed up the Institute on Communist Affairs. He is currently a professor of foreign policy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski

Wonder if Obama took classes from Brzezinski? Wouldn't that be interesting?

[TomClash]

18. He was an undergrad - I doubt it

Zbig taught grad students almost exclusively, I think.

[polichick]

5. These two passages are key imo:

"There is a need for a fundamental rethinking of how we conduct world affairs," he added. "And Obama seems to me to have both the guts and the intelligence to address that issue and to change the nature of America's relationship with the world."

"The worldwide yearning for human dignity is the central challenge inherent in the phenomenon of global political awakening," he argues. His worry is that America -- enfeebled by "material self-indulgence, persistent social shortcomings, and public ignorance about the world" -- may not get it.


Who was it that said you can't solve problems with the same thinking that created them??

[Emit]

16. The fact that

Brzezinski has been a key advisor to presidents dating back to 1960 leaves me questioning whether 'change' is really what we'll be experiencing.

[MonkeyFunk]

6. Maybe you're just looking for reasons

to be bothered. :shrug:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. Another neo-lib cold warrior endorsing the newer version.

Damn, I wish these old empire-builders would find something useful to do in their dotage.

[Emit]

13. I think you just touched on my point

Where it appears others have no idea what the hell I'm getting at.

[New Dawn]

14. Exactly.

[Emit]

17. Welcome to DU, New Dawn

:hi:

[Freida5]

11. He was National Security Advisor during the Iran Hostage Crisis. He didnt help Carter much.

But it does bother me that his daughter is able to campaign for Obama every day on Morning Joe

[Emit]

12. He was more than that

During the 1960 presidential elections, Brzezinski was an advisor to the John F. Kennedy campaign ...

For the 1968 presidential campaign, Brzezinski was chairman of the Hubert Humphrey Foreign Policy Task Force...

During the 1960s Brzezinski acted as an adviser to Kennedy and Johnson administration officials. ...

For the 1968 presidential campaign, Brzezinski was chairman of the Hubert Humphrey Foreign Policy Task Force...

Out of this thesis, Brzezinski co-founded the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller, serving as director from 1973 to 1976. The Trilateral Commission is a group of prominent political and business leaders and academics primarily from the United States, Western Europe and Japan. Its purpose is to strengthen relations among the three most industrially advanced regions of the free world. Brzezinski selected Georgia governor Jimmy Carter as a member. ... Carter announced his candidacy for the 1976 presidential campaign to a skeptical media and proclaimed himself an "eager student" of Brzezinski. Brzezinski became Carter's principal foreign policy advisor by late 1975 ... After his victory in 1976, Carter made Brzezinski National Security Adviser ...

In 1985, under the Reagan administration, Brzezinski served as a member of the President’s Chemical Warfare Commission....

In 1988, Brzezinski was co-chairman of the Bush National Security Advisory Task Force and endorsed Bush for president, breaking with the Democratic party (coincidentally hurting the career of his former student Madeleine Albright, who was Dukakis's foreign policy advisor). ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski