Obama's Over Honesty

While it is doubtless that the United States need be able to strike within the lawless Northwest region of Pakistan – a region that is part of Pakistan only in name and has never been subject to any outside governance – perhaps the only thing the Bush Administration has done well in the last six years has been its refusal to cry publicly that it would strike there.

In his speech today, Sen. Obama will make very plain that despite his undergraduate work in International Relations, he lacks an appreciation for diplomacy and statecraft. This is not to say that Obama's belief – a widely held one, I might add – that the United States must be able to act in Northwest Pakistan should it have solid information on the location of Taliban and revitalized Al Qaeda militants, and that this region must be brought under the control of the state of Pakistan is wrong. On the contrary, his position is correct; however, had Obama the experience that he so clearly lacks or an appreciation for the practice of statecraft rather than the practice of politics, he would understand that by publicly declaring this truism, and doing so as part of a broad and dramatic foreign policy speech, he undermines a key ally.

"Damn Musharraf! He's not much of an ally anyway," you say. Well, to be simple about it, 'tis better to dance with the devil you know than the devil you don't. The simple fact of the matter is that we cannot be sure what will replace Musharraf should he go. It might be a more democratic regime, it might be an Islamists regime, but given our limited capabilities in the world today, it's a gamble we cannot afford to make – especially if you're (Obama's) ultimate goal is to redouble our efforts in the "good war" in Afghanistan and bring stability to that nation.

Which returns me to the point of this column: the substance of Sen. Obama's position is correct, his publicly declaring this position – and his threat of conditional arms packages – is absolutely wrong. A candidate that fails to appreciate the art of statecraft, like the one who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, is a gamble that we, the American people, can no longer afford to make.