9/3/08

The stakes tonight for Governor Sarah Palin’s speech are extraordinarily high.  The McCain campaign’s contention that “She’s going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he’ll be around at least that long,” is not good enough.  She must be ready to step in immediately.  The stakes are too high.  If Palin is unable to demonstrate a clear understanding of national security issues in the weeks ahead it calls into serious question McCain’s own judgment as Commander in Chief.  Tonight, Palin must demonstrate that she does in fact have the judgment, and is on her way to acquiring the foreign policy knowledge to lead the world’s largest military and largest economy.  Other serious candidates for national office, who did not have extensive foreign policy backgrounds, such as Presidents Bush and Clinton, took the time to learn the issues well before election day.  With nine weeks to go, Palin faces a steep challenge and so does John McCain’s judgment.

At tonight’s speech before the Republican National Convention, Governor Palin must demonstrate her foreign policy credentials.  In her speech tonight before the Republican National Convention, Palin must show Americans that she has the foreign policy judgment and knowledge to lead the country in a crisis.  Vice Presidents play an important role in foreign policy, demonstrated most recently by Vice President Cheney’s trip to Eastern Europe, and even more importantly they have to be able to step in immediately if the President cannot fulfill his or her duty.  But according to Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell of the Alaska National Guard, Palin plays “no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.”  Last year, when asked her opinion on President Bush’s surge strategy, Palin responded by saying: “I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq.”  This is simply not good enough for the office to which she aspires. She must demonstrate that she takes these issues seriously and is prepared.  [Alaska Business Monthly, 3/1/07. AP, 9/1/08]

Candidates who are serious about running for national office understand that learning on the job is not enough and go out of their way to build an extensive foreign policy apparatus around them and educate themselves on the issues years before the election.  Confronting the foreign policy challenges faced by the U.S. requires hard work, and years of preparation.  Former President Bill Clinton, lacking foreign policy experience himself, spent years under the tutelage of experts such as Tony Lake, Warren Christopher and Sandy Berger.  In 2000, President George W. Bush called Condoleezza Rice his foreign policy “quarterback” and had a cadre of foreign policy experts advising him as early as 1998 while he was governor of Texas.  Senator Obama has done the same, building an extensive network of 300 foreign policy advisors and taking a position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  But as McCain adviser Charlie Black has said, the McCain campaign’s plan is to have Palin learn on the job: “She’s going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he’ll be around at least that long.”  [NY Times, 8/29/08, NY Times, 9/13/92. 8/16/00.  Stanford Review, 10/29/99.  NY Times, 7/18/08.]

John McCain’s first foreign policy test, selecting a running mate, calls into question his decision making and judgment.  John McCain appears to have been hasty in making his selection of Governor Palin as his running mate.  Before their joint appearance announcing her selection, McCain had met Palin only once.  Moreover, Palin “was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain's vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate,” and McCain’s aides “are on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background.”  According to the New York Times, “the process reflects Mr. McCain’s history of making fast, instinctive and sometimes risky decisions,” a tendency he addressed in his 2002 book, Worth the Fighting For, by writing, “Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.” This is simply not the way the decision-making process should proceed for someone who could potentially become the most powerful leader in the world. [MSNBC, 8/29/08. NY Times, 9/02/08. Washington Post, 9/03/08. NY Times 8/31/08]

Quick Hits

According to media reports, North Korea is reassembling its nuclear facilities, in response to the United States’ refusal to remove the country from the list of state-sponsors of terrorism; the U.S. maintains that North Korea must provide more information on its nuclear programs before being taken off the list.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani escaped an assassination attempt in Rawalpindi.

While Georgia announced intentions to rebuild and rearm its military, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili “no longer exists in our eyes. He is a political corpse.” Elsewhere, 2 journalists were attacked in the Caucusus region of Russia, increasing fears of a renewed crackdown on the media.

Also in the region, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney embarked on a tour of former Soviet republics including the Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is making a visit to Syria, the first such trip by a Western head of state in five years.

Aafia Siddiqui, a female Pakistani neuroscientist with ties to al Qaeda, has been indicted in the United States; she was captured in Afghanistan two months ago and possessed evidence of planning for a “mass casualty attack.”

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales “could not recall” how he stored highly classified material and may have lied to FBI personnel, which, as Jeff Stein observes, sent Scooter Libby to jail.

A “mistaken fire” incident has led to U.S. troops killing at least six members of the Iraqi Security Forces.

NSN’s Pat Barry points out on Democracy Arsenal that in the three major speeches at the Republican National Convention last night, not a single one mentioned Afghanistan.