McCain vs. Obama on the Russia-Georgia conflict
This was originally tacked onto the end of my last post on Russia and Georgia, but I decided it deserved a separate post:
The prospective presidential candidates have, of course, reacted to the situation in Georgia and weighed in on how it affects our future relationship with Moscow.
- McCain — who has previously traveled to Georgia and met Georgian president Saakashvili — immediately and forcefully condemned the Russian invasion, and has continued to demand that Russia remove its troops from Georgia. He has also said that the U.S. needs to to completely re-examine its relationship with Moscow in light of recent events.
McCain even had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday — titled “We Are All Georgians” — in which he ripped the Russian rationale for the invasion, reaffirmed his unflinching support for Georgia’s democratic government, and laid out his vision for what “serious consequences” Moscow should face as a result. McCain called for Russia to be suspended from the G-8, fast-tracked NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine, and a strong humanitarian commitment to help the Georgians rebuild their country.
- Obama has been far more cautious in his response to the Georgia-Russia conflict. He initially issued a very brief, vague statement in which he “condemn[ed] the outbreak of violence” and urged both “Russia and Georgia to show restraint,” but later issued a second, more detailed statement hardening his stance, saying that there was “no possible justification” for Russia’s continued aggression, and called on Russia to immediately halt its military offensive and respect the territorial sovereignty of Georgia. His advisers explained that the initial statement was released before Obama “knew the full details of the situation.”
Obama also called for humanitarian assistance and aid for reconstruction in Georgia, and also said he favored “deepening relations” between Georgia and NATO, including a “membership action plan” for Georgia.
- Obama’s advisers have publicly attacked McCain for “shooting from the hip” and taking an unnecessarily “aggressive” and “belligerent” stance towards Russia, in addition to criticizing one of McCain’s foreign policy advisers who had once worked as a lobbyist for the Georgian government. McCain’s campaign criticized Obama’s response to the crisis as “weak” and countered that Obama’s campaign “echoed Russian PR firms” and “equated the victims with the victimizers.”
**UPDATE: Inspired by Eddie’s post yesterday, here are the Wordles that represent graphically the words used by McCain and Obama in their statements on the Georgia-Russia crisis.
McCain is in red; Obama is in blue. I’ve put boxes around key words.
(McCain has spoken and written far more about this subject in the past week, which is why his Wordle has a lot more small words.)
Key differences: Obama’s heavy use of the words “united,” and “international” versus McCain — McCain emphasized more terms like”aggression” and “independence.” While Obama’s statements contained many words like “peace,” “peaceful” and “peacekeepers,” McCain tended to mention “troops” and “NATO.”
While the candidate’s positions on the conflict are in reality closer than either campaign would admit, a quick skimming of the two candidate’s Wordles (click pictures to enlarge) on the situation gives you a general idea of how they differ in tone and emphasis.
Zbigniew Brzezinski in an interview on the NPR yesterday basically said that both Senators McCain and Obama should keep quiet on this and not muddy the waters any more than they have.
He also indicated that President Bush and Secretary Rice dropped the ball on this by not paying attention to the build-up to this conflict over the past year.
Bottom line here is that McCain, who actually KNOWS something about the situation, immediately came out with a position. Obama waffled and generalized, accused McCain of shooting from the hip, and then came up with a “final position” that was essentially the same as McCain’s.
RHarnack - You’re quoting Carter’s national security adviser, in an interview on NPR. The only people around here who would put any stock in that combination are Eddie Roth and Tim Hogan.
Alex - In this post, you used the phrase “inspired by Eddie.” You seem like a smart guy. Please avoid being inspired by Eddie. I’m not saying that Eddie isn’t an intelligent and accomplished gentleman … just that you’d be better finding your inspiration elsewhere.
Nick,
Can you are any other of your kind answer for us, why is it that our men and women in our military of the U.S of A have given Obama 6 times the amount in donations than McCain has received from the men and woman in our miltary?
What does that tell you all? Please answer that for us, anyone of you who sit on the sidelines staying that Obama does not know what is best for our military and country. SDo now are you going to insult our men and women in our military now that they support Obama ver McCain GREATLY?
Nick -
Yes I was quoting one of the more incisive national security advisors ever on a network that actually allows people to complete a thought.
Sadly for the whole situation, he is not the only one by now who has made this particular point. If you want to read why this is a built in problem with the administration and this particular Secretary of State, read Sec. State Condoleeza Rice’s article in the July/August Foreign Affairs Journal. Her line of reasoning, while valid if you grant her assumptions, is challenged severely by the facts in existence.
D. Walker–
I can probably answer your question. The military most likely supports Obama over McCain because they see a greater likelihood of a quicker withdraw from Iraq if Obama is elected. That is, I presume, the foundation of their support.
Let us not forget that McCain is a graduate of the Naval Academy and is very knowledgeable of foreign affairs. His reaction is right on point and is the stance which needed to be taken. He knew that immediately. Obama seemed to wait to see what the sentiment of the country was and is. In this situation, McCain acted like a president and Obama acted like a candidate.
The more provocative Russia is, the more popular McCain will become…
Well that says it all. Bring thm home.
People like D. Walker and that micro-managing moron LBJ …
are the reason we lost the Vietnam war .. and here we go again.
We did not lose the Vietnam War. The US entered the Vietnam War to keep communism from spreading through the rest of Asia. The war itself was a stalemate, however after we left, no additional countries came under the communist umbrella. Because of this, in a broader sense, the Vietnam War can be considered a success, and the men who fought there were part of a noble and successful mission.