Friday, April 9, 2010

McCain Disses Obama's Nuclear Posture Review

Marc Ambinder wrote an interesting article for The Atlantic regarding Republican opposition to President Obama's Nuclear Posture Review, which is surprising because the review appears to be a wish list for Republicans. "Ponder the highlights of the Nuclear Posture Review," Ambinder writes, "and you can't help but wonder: is there all that much that Republicans can complain about?"

Why are the Republicans complaining?
Obama embraces the concept of missile defense as a deterrent against aggression in Europe (albeit as a way of reducing the reliance on nuclear weapons as a deterrent); his budget spends billions to modernize the nuclear stockpile; he did not significantly change America's so-called "declaratory policy" about when it will use nukes, and he resisted pressure from his left to make any bold unilateral concessions.
Now that the Obama administration is in charge, it seems the party of no is living up to their name, with Republicans changing positions, such as once self-identified maverick John McCain, who during the campaign trail agreed with Obama regarding a follow-on treaty to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia and the Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.

From what I see, the GOP is just in denial. They seem to miss the blank check given to them by the previous administration to make unilateral military decisions, ignoring the other nations that inhabit this planet, to advance just what I do not know. The administration has come up with yet another moderate stance that should gather support across the aisle. It is surprising to see McCain come out against the review, but then again, as the campaign commercials told us, and McCain tried to distance himself from, branding himself as some sort of beltway saint, he is nothing more then a right-wing hawk.

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