John McCain's Foreign Policy

MANIFESTO

I can't say I'm particularly impressed with John McCain's latest attempt to have it both ways.

In yesterday's foreign policy address, Arizona's senior senator (Interpret that designation any way you wish.)

promised a collaborative foreign policy that would seek the input of allies abroad and would contrast sharply with the go-it-alone approach of the Bush administration ...

In a speech to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles, McCain called himself a "realistic idealist" and outlined a worldview mirroring that of some Bush administration critics, who say the first task of the next president must be to repair relations around the world.

"Today we are not alone," McCain said. "Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed."

Indeed, the senator didn't mention Feckless Leader's name once, instead referring to fine Democrats such as Kennedy and Truman as exemplars.

Nevertheless, while insisting that he's not in the Bush "If you're not with us, you're against us" camp (also known as the FY school of politics), Senator Hundred Year War made it plain that the Iraq occupation wouldn't be ending on his watch, stating that

the continued U.S. presence there is a "moral responsibility" and that a "reckless" withdrawal would be an "unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our character as a great nation ...

"Those who argue that our goals in Iraq are unachievable are wrong, just as they were wrong a year ago when they declared the war already lost in Iraq. Those who claim we should withdraw from Iraq in order to fight al-Qaeda more effectively elsewhere are making a dangerous mistake."

So here's how I read it: He's willing to "collaborate" with old Europe and other allies on some issues, but anything having to do with Iraq (and, one assumes, Afghanistan) is off the table.

And this is different from the nonsensical policy the Bushies have followed, how?

Oh, and BTW, does anyone else hear an echo of the horrid "compassionate conservative" in McCain's "realistic idealist" linguistic somersault?

UPDATE — Glenn Greenwald expands on the above here.