< Back to Front Page Text size – +

Obama, McCain, and the world

Posted by Jason Tuohey June 18, 2008 06:32 PM

If you're a foreign policy wonk, the concentration on domestic issues in the general election race may have you parched for information on the candidates' international views. But a couple of recent pieces offered some valuable insights as to how Barack Obama and John McCain see the world.

In this week's Newsweek, Evan Thomas discussed how each candidate plans to use the themes of Vietnam and World War II, respectively, to outline their approach to Iraq and the War on Terror:

"McCain will exploit the Munich-appeasement cliché; through his loyalists and by implication, if not in so many words, he will likely portray Barack Obama as a softy and vaguely "un-American." Obama and his surrogates, in turn, are likely to cast McCain as a once brave but now slightly unhinged former POW who has stubbornly determined to stay in Iraq in a war without end. Vote for Obama, the Republicans say, and you may get another Munich; vote for McCain, the Democrats say, and you may get another Vietnam."

Sticking with the Newsweek theme, last month Fareed Zakaria, the editor of the magazine's international edition, analyzed the candidates' differing world views on PRI's The World podcast:

"Fundamentally McCain seems to be envisioning a world, a very hostile world in which we face what he calls this transcendent existential evil of Islamic extremism, autocracies which must be fought, and Obama sees a world in which you have lots of different kinds of regimes, but there are areas where we have common interests and we should try to pursue them... In that sense Barack Obama represents more of the kind of old fashioned tradition of Republican hard-headed problem solving and McCain has become the Wilsonian, a kind of armed Wilsonian, a kind of belligerent Wilsonian, but still very much somebody looking at the world through a highly ideological prism rather than a practical one."

Listen to the interview here.

  • CommentComment
  • EmailEmail
» Back to Front Page
.

McSame is not merely unhinged. He has shown himself corrupt--see the Keating Five history. He's anti-woman--look at how he treated his first wife and what he has called his present wife--a C**T! His positions on choice, funding for breast cancer research, for veterans' support, his campaign run by lobbyists, his seeking of endorsements from anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic preachers and misogynists show him as appealing to the demonic impulses in our nation's history. He is not only a third Bush term in waiting but his failing mental condition, visible symptoms of dementia, threaten a national catastrophe for our beloved Republic.

Posted by lin June 18, 08 07:51 PM
.

Newsweek is a creepy magazine with creepy reporters.They have this mentality that the rest of the world loves them but is not.Most educated countries appreciate Bush policies of defeating terrorism in contrast with Newsweek finding.I think they mean the third world countries.

Posted by skmj June 18, 08 09:18 PM
add your comment *(If you put a URL in your comment, it must be relevant )
Required
Required (will not be published)

This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.

About Political Intelligence

Reports from Boston Globe reporters and editors about the transition to the new administration and other national political happenings.

Send your comments to masspolitics@globe.com

see all Globe blogs

News from the Washington Bureau

Democrats, Obama disagree on F-22 spending

WASHINGTON - From the economic recovery plan to healthcare reform and creating clean-energy jobs, Representative Paul Hodes has been among President Obama’s staunchest supporters in Congress. (Globe Staff, 12 a.m.)

Mass. health overhaul offers lessons for US program

WASHINGTON - A fear that employers will drop private coverage and dump their workers onto federally subsidized health plans is a major concern among lawmakers crafting healthcare legislation on Capitol Hill, leading House Democrats to propose stiff financial penalties for businesses that don’t contribute to employee premiums. (Globe Staff, 7/10/09)

Liberian’s war-crimes testimony may shed light on Plymouth jailbreak

WASHINGTON - It has been a mystery for more than two decades how Charles G. Taylor, Liberia’s former president, broke out of Plymouth County Correctional Facility in 1985, starting a journey that ultimately made him one of Africa’s most notorious strongmen. (Globe Staff, 7/10/09)

In health bill, billions for parks, paths

WASHINGTON - Sweeping healthcare legislation working its way through Congress is more than an effort to provide insurance to millions of Americans without coverage. Tucked within is a provision that could provide billions of dollars for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and even farmers’ markets. (Globe Staff, 7/9/09)
Reporter's notebook

To a young reporter, McNamara was a plain-spoken observer of US affairs

WASHINGTON - To a reporter fresh out of college hired to cover the Pentagon for a little-known newsletter, Robert S. McNamara was nearly a mythical figure. (Globe Staff, 7/7/09)

More female veterans are winding up homeless

WASHINGTON - The number of female service members who have become homeless after leaving the military has jumped dramatically in recent years, according to new government estimates, presenting the Veterans Administration with a challenge as it struggles to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. (Globe Staff, 7/5/09)

Healthcare overhaul could limit tax breaks on benefits

WASHINGTON - For the secretaries and environmental engineers, game wardens and van drivers who work for the state of New Hampshire, surgery is free, even at Boston’s top teaching hospitals if it’s necessary. So are MRIs, CT scans, and X-rays. (Globe Staff, 7/4/09)

Obama confronts skeptics on healthcare, pledges action

ANNANDALE, Va. - President Obama, pledging to overhaul healthcare this year despite divisions in Congress and the public, took on his skeptics directly yesterday, seeking to assure patients that their costs would not increase and that they would not be victims of a “government takeover.’’ (Globe Staff, 7/2/09)

Consumers likely to face increased bank costs

WASHINGTON - An array of government-created insurance agencies - which have long charged bargain-rate premiums to banks, credit unions, and brokerages - are seeking to make up for massive shortfalls in their insurance funds by raising fees and premiums, many of which are likely to be passed on to consumers. (Globe Staff, 7/2/09)

Supreme Court rules in favor of Conn. firefighters

WASHINGTON - A sharply divided US Supreme Court ruled yesterday in favor of a group of white firefighters who accused the city of New Haven of racial discrimination, potentially making it much harder for employers to bring racial balance to the workplace, while handing ammunition to critics of high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on the eve of her confirmation hearings. (Globe Staff, 6/30/09)
archives