Rich Lowry‘s latest National Review Online column describes a “McGovernite Obama.”
When Pres. Barack Obama took the podium last Friday to abruptly announce the imminent end of the Iraq War, he ended on a ringing McGovernite note: “After a decade of war, the nation that we need to build — and the nation that we will build — is our own.”
Come home, America: Deficit spending, solar subsidies, and a millionaire’s tax are beckoning you. Come home, America: To the comforts of an infrastructure bank and yet more aid to states and localities. Come home, America: To the challenge of fighting tax breaks for Big Oil and corporate jets, and malign corporate influence wherever it is found.
The Obama at that podium was the same as the Obama of the Democratic primaries, with his heedlessly irresponsible commitment to a hasty retreat from Iraq. Back then, he was only capable of vaporous posturing. Now, he’s president of the United States and has pulled the plug on the Iraq War in what will surely be a boost to Iran, which mere weeks after the revelation of its plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. on our soil gets a strategic windfall on its doorstep.
