And just has Obama has discovered — or might have always known —t he limits of presidential power unlike his predecessor, the U.S. has likewise recognized the fact that it too has limits even as a superpower.
On the other hand, if Obama is not doing enough on Iran’s nuclear issue, that is because that is the world we live in today. The allies the United States has on one issue, such as curbing nuclear proliferation, might not see eye-to-eye on another issue such as on revaluating currency.
The United States needs the cooperation of Russia and China on a multitude of issues unlike during the Cold War when the USSR was a forsworn enemy and China was a closed nation. Therefore, it cannot alienate them by acting unilaterally as the neoconservatives did the past eight years. Or maybe even, the past 30 years of the Reagan Revolution, when they launched the elective pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. Don’t forget former President G. W. Bush words on the eve of the Iraq invasion: “Whether they surrender their WMDs or not, we are going in.”
Historically, Republicans/conservatives/right-wingers like the easy wars. Grenada and Iraq come to mind. Iran is not going to be an easy target such as Iraq if the U.S. opts for a military solution which is why a hawkish Bush administration chose not to do so.
Democrats/liberal/left-wingers, on the other hand, prefer the difficult wars, such as Vietnam and now, Afghanistan and the secret war along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
America cannot indefinitely continue wars and be a debtor nation at the same time. That is spreading too thin.
MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam
