Political Class Dismissed

Latest episode of the Constitutional Coalition.

Available for download here and archive is here.

Another article I wrote for The New American about how the neocons are jumping on the Obama bandwagon because they know that he’s a globalist just like them.

Here’s an excerpt:

This dynamic of neocons versus liberal interventionists seems to be along the lines of good cop vs. bad cop. Both parties want the same result, but they play opposing roles to con the third party (in this case, independent voters) into trusting them even though they both share the same goals. And when you really think about it: what is the difference between a neocon and a liberal war hawk anyway? Not much of a difference at all considering that neocons were liberal war hawks a few decades ago. Neocon Max Boot admitted this much while praising Obama. “I am gob smacked by these appointments, most of which could just as easily have come from a President McCain…. [Hillary] Clinton and [James] Steinberg at State should be powerful voices for ‘neo-liberalism’ which is not so different in many respects from ‘neo-conservativism.’” (read the whole thing)

From Doug Bandow:

the Republican Party … needs to reconsider its foreign policy stance. Neoconservatives had their opportunity and their policies were found wanting. With President Barack Obama and likely Secretary of State Hillary Clinton almost certain to follow the usual liberal interventionist course, the GOP should respond with a policy of strategic independence rather than even more promiscuous global meddling. In short, conservatives should insist on a “defense” policy that actually promotes America’s defense instead of promoting social engineering in other nations.

Here is a good quote about NATO expansionism (something Barry and the neocons have equal passion for):

Indeed, NATO has become a defense black hole for the United States. By continually expanding the alliance, Washington has been adding small client states with nonexistent military capabilities but multiple political liabilities, ranging from social instability to ethnic discord to border conflict. For example, what conceivable benefit does America gain from bringing Albania or Croatia into NATO? Countries like Estonia proudly send a few dozen personnel to Iraq while expecting the United States to defend them from Russia in return. The alliance has become a form of international welfare, with Washington promiscuously distributing security guarantees hither and yon.

By Doug Bandow

The conservative movement has gone badly astray over the last eight years. It’s not just the idea of preventive war and nation-building in Iraq. It’s the arrogant assumption that Washington can dictate to any nation in any circumstance in any region and the foolish unwillingness to balance competing interests. Even more fundamental, the US government’s principal foreign policy objective has gone from defending America to engaging in social engineering. Bush/McCain conservatives have exhibited the sort of arrogant delusions so characteristic of Wilsonian liberalism. As the conservative movement regroups from its well-deserved defeat, it needs to rediscover America’s more restrained foreign policy tradition. The Right should meet the likely interventionist liberalism of Barack Obama not with the warmongering neoconservatism of the last eight years, but the republican detachment, focused on both peace and prosperity, of the more distant past.

What the Clinton Appointment Means
And why we won’t see any change in American foreign policy
By Justin Raimondo

In any case, what I really mean to say is that our crazed foreign policy was a major reason why Americans gave Obama such a stunning victory. There’s just one problem: our foreign policy is going to remain pretty much the same.

Say whaaaat?!

That’s right: you heard me. No change in that department. Why is that, you ask? The reason is because the War Party has a strategy perfectly suited to solving their major problem, which is that they lack any kind of popular support, as the McCain campaign discovered to its horror. So instead of playing the game, they decided to rig it and greet the incoming Obama administration with a fait accompli. The Bush administration is now engaged in the last throes of its torturous negotiations with the Iraqis, who have finally agreed to the terms of a status of forces agreement with the U.S. What this means, in short, is that U.S. troops will be authorized to stay in the country until 2011 – way beyond what Obama promised. Of course, this doesn’t mean that they will stay in that long, necessarily, only that the new president has cover now to break his campaign promise, without much of a fuss being made by the Iraqis. As for the Americans, Congress won’t mind, and if it comes to a vote the pro-war faction of the Democrats can always line up with the GOP, as they did in the Bush era. More…