Obama, Clinton And Pakistan

August 1st, 2007

Barack Obama, the man the media once proclaimed as a dire threat to Hillary Clinton’s planned Democratic presidential coronation, is faltering. After being savaged by a Hillary trap on foreign policy, the latest Wall Street Journal poll shows Clinton widening her lead over Obama. Hillary’s support among Democrats is growing, while Barack’s is beginning to contract. What’s Obama to do? First his advisors urged him to compare Senator Clinton to Bush and Cheney. Wrong move. Now they have given him different advice. Play the Pakistan card.

Speaking before the Woodrow Wilson Institute at Princeton University, Senator Obama puffed in his chest, and this non-soldier boasted of his prowess as a future commander-in-chief. As president, he would bomb Pakistan! Possibly invade as well. He may have been opposed to the war in Iraq, but Pakistan, right on, brothers and sisters!

Hillary Clinton knew what Obama was up to; trying to show he is tougher than Hillary by doing something she wouldn’t do. Only problem is, Hillary Clinton quickly told the media shucks, she would do the same thing. So Obama’s ploy at showing a distinctive style of war leadership was quickly rendered indistinct.

More importantly, however, this flippant talk about another war shows the intellectual bankruptcy of the Democratic Party establishment when it comes to clearly and strategically thinking about how to confront the Islamist Jihadi challenge to America. Clearly, there are serious problems with rogue areas in the Northwest Provinces of Pakistan, never firmly under the authority of any Pakistani government. Elements of the Pakistan intelligence services have shown an affinity with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. However, it must also be pointed out that most of the key leaders of Al-Qaeda who have been incapacitated were killed or captured by the Pakistani security forces.

In reality, Pakistan is a very complex society. It is much more nuanced than being described as a military dictatorship ruling a militantly anti-American population. There are strong traditional Islamic forces in Pakistani society, but also impressively cosmopolitan sectors as well. Pakistani journalists and academicians have written some of the most astute analyses of the terrorism challange to the 21st century, and many of them have shown great personal courage in doing so. They would be the first to say that a few bombing runs into Pakistan al la Obama-Clinton would probably do little to help American security interests in the short run, and would certainly unleash horriffic long-term consequences.

If the Iraq war disaster has taught us anything, it’s that having state policy set by ambitious politicians seeking to create a “tough” image can only lead us on the road to ruin. Is there even one American politician running for the presidency who has actually read a book about Pakistan’s political and social history?

The latest salvos by Obama and Hillary aimed at Pakistan betray the shallowness of both Democratic front-runners when it comes to being deliberative and thoughtful in protecting America’s national security.

Entry Filed under: Sheldon Filger, Author:"Hillary Clinton Nude"

2 Comments Add your own

1. Zippy | August 1st, 2007 at 10:51 pm

Good, just great. Obama the anti-war candidate wants to start another war. Hasn’t he and Hillary Clinton learned anything from the horrible presidency of George “dubya” Bush? Invading Pakistan would be a bigger mistake than invading Iraq.
2. Ira Laufer | August 1st, 2007 at 11:10 pm

I think you underestimate Barack Obama. He has a group of advisors with great experience and the Paklistan reference in his speech at Princeton was a small part of a superb all-encompassing look at the world we will inherit once the Bush fiasco is over. For one small example, he is the first candidate to speak to the Saudi radical muslim education system that is being exported world-wide.

He has the combination of brain-power, common sense and is certainly not part of what you term, the political mafia.

That speech actually took me out of ranks of the undecided.