Paul’s position is an indication of just how much time Obama frittered away when he should have been crafting America’s global game plan. McCain, of course, would like to believe it’s actually an indication of how right he is about the virtues of hair-trigger military adventurism. The domestic political problem created by Obama’s negligence on grand strategy is that the McCains and Romneys of the GOP now have an unheard-of second chance to retake control of the Republican platform on war and security.
Since the Civil War, big business Republicans have secured power by portraying themselves as the champions of American might and human freedom. It’s hard to do that for very long without actually occasionally delivering on those brand promises. But the double failures in Afghanistan and Iraq caused most Americans to lose faith in the Rinohawks.
That’s a sign of how spectacular those failures really were. But the Rinohawks’ return to the brink of power is an equally potent sign of how spectacular Barack Obama’s strategic failure has been. America actually does need a more robust, vigorous, and coherent approach to its role in the world—and that’s the perfect opportunity for Republicans who still hold unpopular and un-populist views about the cozy relationship between big business and big government.
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