Clinton's Foreign Policy Speech

Since much of the news media has been focusing on Barack Obama *gasp* wearing the native wardrobe of the country his father is from, less has been focused on Hillary Clinton's speech yesterday at George Washington University on foreign policy.

In a major speech yesterday at George Washington University, Sen. Clinton drove the wedge deeper: "If I am entrusted with the presidency, America will have the courage, once again, to meet with our adversaries. But I will not be penciling in the leaders of Iran or North Korea or Venezuela or Cuba on the presidential calendar without preconditions; until we have assessed, through lower-level diplomacy, the motivations and intentions of these dictators."

Sen. Clinton added: "We simply cannot legitimize rogue regimes or weaken American prestige by impulsively agreeing to presidential-level talks that have no preconditions."

This is a hidden attack at Obama's lewd suggestions that we diplomatically meet with the leaders of enemy nations and try and forge some peace agreement. Clinton is shrewd and intelligent. In what I've read about her speech, I'm pretty sure she "gets it" so to speak. I think diplomacy is an admirable first option when dealing with world leaders in opposition to the American ideal, but many times, it is to little avail.

Now I'm sure Barack himself knows this. However, he knows that the whole "give peace a chance" type of rhetoric will attract the kumbaya-singing peaceniks of my generation and those before me. (As a funny aside, the first spell-check suggestion for "kumbaya" is "scumbag".) These beliefs show a shocking naive idealism we should have grown out of after the Cold War and more recently, 9/11.

Anyway, I think Clinton, too many times, has been passive in her debates with Obama, and I hope this speech is a bit of foreshadowing to tonight's debate in Cleveland.