The conventional wisdom that John McCain had an advantage over Barack Obama on foreign policy has not panned out. While McCain has certainly had more years of exerience in the Senate, during the campaign Obama has showed a better grasp of the issues, better judgement, and a better temperment for dealing with international crises. This has resulted in Obama receiving the endorsements of numerous foreign policy experts. The latest is Thomas P. M. Barnett:
Talking to an Economist reporter today on an unrelated subject, so good a time as any to remind everyone of my great devotion to this mag. If I was stranded on the proverbial desert island (and I’ve said this for years), the Economist is the only subscription I’d carry.
This is the clincher for me, even though I voted nearly a month ago.
Obama’s task is the great unwinding of the Bush debacle, which Bush himself started these past two years, but which is likely to go four more. If Obama spends his first term unwinding both the financial crisis and the two wars well, then he wins a second term and there stands his real chance to imprint a different world moving forward.
McCain is just not the guy to do the unwinds. I honestly think he’d be a complete disaster, so my expectations for Obama are suitably set: unwind and reset in first term, come out charging like the America the world needs in term two.
Done well, this is one of the great rule-set resets of American and world history.
But no question, the need is great and the time is now and McCain is definitely not the leader for the job.
The endorsement from The Economist was discussed here.
