Obama's Isolationism

Obama's Isolationism

"It's one of the ironies of modern "progressivism" that it looks to the past for so many of its policies. Neo-isolationism in foreign policy and a trade protectionism that smacks of the Smoot-Hawley 1930s are discredited, but they form a powerful appeal to today's Democratic Party. Obama's foreign policy id that emerges from behind a scrim of sometimes tough campaign rhetoric is all-too consistent with the values of today's Democrats.

"More than just backing down from a foreign challenge, an Obama Administration may back away entirely -- in the belief now current on the left that our mere involvement overseas is provocative; that the hostility the U.S. faces in the world is often entirely understandable, and therefore we should simply stay home." condensed from American Thinker

"Obama apparently forgets that the party whose mantle he will carry into November was the party of Harry Truman, the president who initiated the Marshall Plan. That program rebuilt Europe after it was destroyed in the Second World War, costing the United States $13 billion to fund many of the same sorts of projects we’re financing in Iraq today.

"Outlining his economic agenda in a speech at Raleigh, North Carolina [in June], Obama stated that 'Instead of spending $12 billion a month to rebuild Iraq, I think it's time we invested in our roads and schools and bridges and started to rebuild America.' It would have been one thing had Obama assailed the cost of maintaining America’s military presence in Iraq. Criticizing the continuation of an effort that he believes never should have started would at least have had the virtue of being vaguely principled, as opposed to a crude expression of isolationism.

"With his call for spending money at home “instead” of abroad, Obama establishes a false choice, creating a dichotomy where none exists. Never mind what we owe a country whose government we overthrew, devoting funds to the rebuilding of a physically traumatized Iraq is not mutually exclusive from increasing domestic social spending, as Obama has proposed. Nor is there any indication that Iraq reconstruction aid is in any way responsible for America’s current economic hardships. More troubling is Obama’s lack of appreciation for the threat that failed states pose to international security. If the United States does not ensure a stable, moderately-friendly regime in Iraq before it leaves, then the deferral of our responsibility could eventually come back to haunt us, a la Afghanistan under the Taliban." condensed from Standpoint.Online

This isolationism of Obama's spreads well past Iraq. "The Asia edition of the Wall Street Journal rips Barack Obama ’s efforts to block the US-South Korea free-trade agreement today. The editors openly wonder whether Obama has bothered to read the agreement, noting that he seems ignorant of several of its provisions, as well as lacking understanding of the benefit to American consumers and manufacturers." digg http://digg.com/political_opinion/Obama_Isolationism_you_can_t_afford

"Many Americans look at trying to coax democracy or even stability in the Arab world and conclude that it’s a mug’s game. If this is interventionism, could isolationism be much worse? The lead-up to the war disabused Americans of any notion that they could easily corral global support for their policing the planet. The follow-through has convinced them they cannot do it by themselves either. You can see why opting out has begun to appeal." Andrew Sullivan Times Online

Why Is This Important?

Because, "Canadian and European officials say they plan to begin negotiating a massive agreement to integrate Canada’s economy with the 27 nations of the European Union, with preliminary talks to be launched at an Oct. 17 summit in Montreal three days after the federal election. If successful, Canada would be the first developed nation to have open trade relations with the EU, which has completely open borders between its members but imposes steep trade and investment barriers on outsiders…

"Canada would be the only developed country (Mexico has its own deal) with guaranteed access to both the European Union and the United States — the two richest markets in the world, with 800 million consumers between them. Locating in either the US or the EU would give a firm guaranteed access to only one. Only by locating in Canada would they get both."

The world economy is going to be truly global, with the exception of the United States as it plays the game against Europe. "A pact with the United States would be politically impossible in Europe, senior European Commission officials said." The crossroads of international trade MaCleans.CA/blogs

What ever payments of any sort that we have heard Obama say McCain supports giving to American corportations that send their jobs overseas are entirely improper. I don't know what they are, nor if Obama is correctly characterizing them.

If they exist as Obama characterizes them, they are are wrong, economically, politically, morally, ethically.

But every American corportation should be politically free to put its operations wherever the costs are lowest and/or the profits are greatest. They don't deserve government money for moving operations out of the country. American taxpayers and workers don't deserve the slap in the face of paying to lose their jobs.

But free trade agreements, not isolationism, is vitally important not only for economic health of our nation, but because politically the policy agrees with American freedom.

It seems that Canada and the E.U. understand that better than the U.S. and Mexico.

Note: I will be the featured speaker at the Center For Inquiry (CFI) meeting, October 16, 2008, in Portage, Michigan. The topic is "Atheism as a 'Religion' Protected by Courts According to the Establishment Clause" CEC

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