AS live blogs
10.26 pm. Israel and Iran: I'm relieved that this question is raised. It's the hardest question the next president will have to face. I honestly feel very conflicted about this. I want to know how these candidates will react. McCain's invocation of a "league of democracies" as the answer is a little bizarre. Obama's answer was very political and very persuasive. I just don't believe we can stop Iran, although Obama's answer on gasoline imports was specific and smart. He won the exchange, but he didn't convince me. I wish he had.
I LIKED OBAMA BETTER DURING THE PRIMARIES, WHEN HE WAS TALKING ABOUT ENDING GOP-DRIVEN MINDSETS
I concur with AS's assessment of the importance and of the unsatisfying nature of the replies.
What ought to have been said? Well, for one, we ought to jettison the GOP mindset that the best way to exercise US power is to run around shouting at people and "telling them" what to do and "scolding them". Confronting everyone and pledging to work outside what few, international legal frameworks exist that constrain the unlawful exercise of military force in the world ..., etc., is rank arrogance, the hubris that goes before the fall.
So, I was saddened that Obama is repeating the GOP mantra, "We must not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons". This is not what you say when you are trying to run a public pressure campaign, that diffuses the rhetoric of your opponents (the Iranian hardliners). You don't issue threats, so much, you try to persuade, to provide counterfactuals that make it hard for your opponent to get traction.
Accordingly, Obama might have emphasized that we need to act before Iran does something that is not in their interest, something that will destabilize the region by setting off a further regional race for the most terrible weapons in the world. We need to convince the Iranians - reaching out directly to the Iranian people, at least - that some weaponry is not in their interest, that they can trust the U.S., Russia, and China with the proposal to have safe, nuclear energy, and engage as many nations as possible to join in common cause to talk to the Iranians and let them know they do not need these weapons to be a great nation.
There are counter-examples, like S Africa and Lybia, who have given up their nuclear programs.
Instead, we have these belittling remarks and posturing on Israel, that can only infuriate the Iranians ... as it would us, if someone spoke to America the way we do to others, right?
What's more, it's alarming (to me) that American leadership has put its public face so firmly against "Russia". It seems possible to make a case about Georgia, without getting so fired-up that we are talking in terms that rival those reserved for the Soviet Union. Good grief.
