The recent spat between Senator Obama and Australian Prime Minister Howard shows once again how members of Congress, being keen on faction and election, are unfit for foreign policy.
Howard noted that Al Qaida wants nothing more than a rapid withdrawal of Western forces from Iraq and that Obama's 13 month timeline fits neatly with Al Qaida's desires.
Obama's response is that the Australians should commit more troops to a fight Obama opposes. (This must be the rhetorical brilliance of Obama I have been reading about in the MSM)
What this exchange shows us is that Alexander Hamilton's was correct when he stated in Federalist 75 that the U.S. House and Senate should not be involved in foreign policy because:
"Accurate and comprehensive knowledge of foreign politics; a steady and systematic adherence to the same views; a nice and uniform sensibility to national character; decision, SECRECY, and despatch, are incompatible with the genius of a body so variable and so numerous."
Obama, a Presidential candidate, has signaled to enemies and allies that if elected, he will move quickly to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq.
Since our enemies want a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, he has made himself a candidate they would prefer to win the Presidency.
Howard merely pointed out the obvious.
Obama then shows exactly why Hamilton opposed U.S. Senators taking on a larger role in foreign policy, by making a statement that lacks any sense of "a steady and systematic adherence to the same views" by calling on Howard to commit more troops to a battle against those Obama wants to surrender to.
Senator Obama, a year away the Presidential primaries, has already alienated an ally in the war on terror.
Would we call this failing the global test?
The war in Iraq, just one of many fronts in the war on the Mohammedan Jihadists, has become an electoral wedge issue between two Congressional factions. Faction being the scourge Madison discussed in Federalist 10.
Obama's position on the war may be sincerely held, or it may be a contrivance to position himself in the Democratic primaries.
Either way, his positioning is factional and his position, along with the Democratic faction, is close to the desires of our enemies.
When confronted with that simple fact, Obama chose to attack U.S. ally during time of war, which is why Hamilton argued the role of the Senate in foreign policy should be limited.
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