Is the apocalypse nigh? Surely when opinion pages of the Washington Post open to two articles from regular columnists George Will (R-1930) and Eugene Robinson (D-1970) agreeing on foreign policy, the world must be coming to an end. But there it is.
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The proximate cause of the rather dissonant harmony between two tribunes of left and right is the conflict in Syria, and what's to be done. This is no simple question, with no simple answers. President Barack Obama has muddled the United States into a principle-free position heavy on rhetoric and light on policy. We must feel for the man; his brain is inexorably drawn to comparisons to Iraq. Obama the senator would certainly have opposed any intervention in that small country, far away. And his light foray into Libya is paying unpleasant dividends over Benghazi.
Syria is not, suffice it to say, the heart of the problem. Rather,
we are in the throes of a minor revolution in national security policy which
has ranged the Obama Left with the Libertarian Right, spawning -- forgive the
imagery -- an isolationist Frankenstein monster. Chin-stroking denizens of
op-ed pages and journals that preoccupy themselves with foreign policy -- this
one included -- are clamoring to align themselves with oracular philosophers of
op-ed pages past (Walter
Lippmann? D.W.
Brogan? Who knew?), seeking a veneer of antiquity authority for
their musings about the wisdom of staying home and resting.
Late last year, in the wake of the GOP election debacle, I penned a piece for this fine publication calling on Republicans to "Think Again" on the principles that undergird the party's foreign policy. I called then for a fight...
Realists who opposed the Iraq war will have to confront neoconservatives who think that American power can still accomplish a lot -- in Syria and elsewhere. Tea Party stalwarts will clash with hawks and interventionists over defense spending and the need for robust engagement in places like Afghanistan.
...not quite realizing it would be joined so fast, and so ardently.
In the conversation that ensued, gallons of ink were spilled (does this analogy still work?), but soul searching was notably absent. GOP internationalists nodded vigorously as they read quotes from Ronald Reagan; conservative neo-isolationists responded with Randian eloquence. Democrats and other Democrats posing as independents weighed in. And because this is Washington, dueling speeches were given. Rand Paul lauded the isolationist leadership of Ronald Reagan. John McCain lauded Reagan's internationalism. Marco Rubio aligned himself with McCain. Mike Lee inched over toward Paul. And nothing was decided.
Similarly, we may be forgiven in having expected that the specter of sequestration and dramatic cuts to the defense budget would drag the GOP toward a come-to-Jesus decision about its stand on national security, defense, and America in the world. But it didn't. Instead, the party contented itself with a low-intensity conflict over programs and pork-barrel spending, selectively funding this and that, here and there, without coming to any consensus about the wisdom of arbitrarily slashing U.S. defense. Imagine a prize fight in which neither heavyweight landed a knock out, the bell was never rung, and the audience sat for hours with no prospect of a dénouement. Why are we here?
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