Doug writes:
> On Jun 18, 2008, at 3:21 PM, John Thornton wrote:
>
>> Madeleine Albright?
>> Warren Christopher?
>> William Perry?
>> Lee Hamilton?
>> Oh man, change is coming fast.
>> I'm so excited to see something so unique happening in my lifetime.
>> I'm also glad Clinton didn't win, she never would have picked new
>> fresh
>> faces like these!
>
> Who's the first person who's going to say that O is doing this stuff
> just to get elected, but that once in office he'll be a bold change
> agent?
=================================
That is one reason, although, as Doug and John both know, US foreign policy
is bipartisan, and neither Obama nor Ralph Nader nor they, were either to be
elected President, could deviate very much from their executive
responsibilites to advance the interests of the empire. But, as Doug and
others have also noted before, even small differences in how the parties and
the candidates interpret and advance those interests can have large
consequences for those who stand in the empire's way. There is a reason the
Cubans, Iranians, and Venezuelans and anti-imperialist movements like
Hezbollah and Hamas have indicated a preference for Obama rather than
McCain. The former has called for high-level negotations with America's
adversaries, while the latter has denounced Obama and reaffirmed, as the
centrepiece of his campaign, the aggressive Bush policy of "no truck with
dictators" unless they capitulate in advance to US demands.
To the degree opinion from below can influence policy, I'd rather have a President Obama susceptible to the Democratic liberal base than a President McCain having to take into account pressures from his xenophobic Republican base. In the same vein, as far as the inner circle of policymakers is concerned, while I have no particular admiration for Albright, Christopher, Perry, and Hamilton as individuals, they still represent a more accomodating wing of the US defence and foreign policy establishment than do McCain advisors Robert Kagan, James Woolsey, Micheal Ledeen, Randy Scheunemann, and the other right wing zealots who brought us Iraq and are itching to bring us Iran.
So while I wouldn't exaggerate the differences, I wouldn't minimize them either. Of course, whether Obama will be a bold change agent or a very modest one will depend more on the circumstances he inherits than on his own intentions or the policy team he surrounds himself with.