Biden Was Awesome
Pete Wehner has an intersting column noting Biden’s realtive Cold War doveishness. From 1973 on, he supported pulling aid to the South Vietnamese, defense spending cuts, pulling aid from the Contras, pulling aid from the thugs in El Salvador, opposed SDI since the 1980s, opposed the first Gulf War and opposed the Surge.
What’s weird about this attack is that only the last two items in Wehner’s list could have any possible relevance to the security challenges we face today. Does anyone even remember SDI or the Contras? And even the first Gulf War is a distant memory whose relevance has become overtaken by events.
For what it’s worth, Biden’s foreign policy judgment seems to be pretty good. In fact, I’d like to see more of this type of doveishness from Democrats, and Biden might actually be a good messenger for it. Because of his tough-guy persona and place on the Foreign Relations Committee, he has plenty of credibility on foreign policy to show just how stupid GOP hawkishness is. Hopefully, his “noun-verb 9/11″ jibe will be a forerunnner of him going after the combined terrorphobia and victory-obsession that constitutes conservative foreign policy. Hopefully.
“What’s weird about this attack is that only the last two items in Wehner’s list could have any possible relevance to the security challenges we face today. Does anyone even remember SDI or the Contras? And even the first Gulf War is a distant memory whose relevance has become overtaken by events.”
I fear this might sound condescending, but I think your relative youth is affecting your perspective. The 1st Gulf War was not all that long ago, and for many people, including myself, Biden’s opposition is a negative. SDI opposition, on the other hand, I view as a positive, and is relevant to its successor — the ballistic missile shield.
Fear and Loathing in Georgetown
September 4, 2008 at 1:12 pm