HOPEY-CHANGEY-SAMEY-SAMEY:

On foreign policy, Obama and the GOP find room for agreement (Robert Kagan, March 5, 2010, Washington Post)

Unnoticed amid the wailing about "broken government," a broad bipartisan consensus is emerging in one unlikely area: foreign policy. On Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran -- the most expensive and potentially dangerous foreign challenges facing the United States -- little separates the Obama administration from most Republican leaders in and out of Congress. A substantial majority of Republicans has supported President Obama's troop surge in Afghanistan. Both the administration and the Republican opposition are committed to a stable, increasingly democratic Iraq. On Iran, differences have narrowed as engagement gives way to pressure on what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls the "military dictatorship" in Tehran. And Republicans have to admit that Obama's prolonged effort at engagement accomplished what George W. Bush never could: convincing most of the world, including most Democrats, that Iran does not want any deal that threatens its nuclear weapons program. Partisan divisiveness will return only if the administration backs down from its own stated objectives.

No Democrat has had even illusory foreign policy credibility since Sam Nunn left the Senate, but the UR has particularly little. He never had any other option but to go along. The amazing thing is how much damage he's done to our relationships with allies just by pretending he's different.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 5, 2010 7:09 AM