The Unilateralist

Congratulations to President "O" for giving the Naval forces permission to use force if necessary to rescue the American merchant captain held hostage by Somalian pirates. A giant thanks and kudos to the Navy for their precision rescue of Captain Richard Phillips. Our president was right in his decision. However, it is ironic that this right decision goes against everything our President professes to believe regarding international relations. After spending 12 months blasting President Bush for his unilateral "go-it-alone" policies and promising a "change" from this style of engagement, when it came right down to time to act, President "O" chose exactly the same policy! Clearly this was not what President "O" desired. It is desirable to have others backing you up when a tough decision has to be made. But there are times when the international community will withhold their support and blessings (for whatever reasons) and the only alternative to doing nothing is to become a Unilateralist.

A similar scenario is unfolding in Afghanistan where President "O" is pushing for a build up of troops. Involving the international community in this project (NATO in particular) has been met with a broad yawn by the Europeans who said yes but will commit only 500 combined troops. So what will our President do? It looks like we will be acting alone in this build up. My how easy it is to criticize policy only to find yourself following the same course 12 months later.

Perhaps President Bush was not so "evil" in pursuing a unilateral policy after all. But then I'm sure the unilateral policies of President "O" are more justified because, after all, he is much better able to persuade leaders to follow him than President Bush ever was. The double standard in all of this is that Bush's policies were said to be employed out of arrogance whereas President "O"'s policies stem from necessity.

In this matter Bush, the Unilateralist is now joined by "O", the Unilateralist.