Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Josh Marshal brings up a good point about the capabilities of the Bush foreign policy team:
Here's the point: if your chosen Korea point man (Kelly) goes to the region and makes a major announcement and is then undercut or repudiated by other officials back home, by definition, that's a screw up. Whoever's right, whoever's got the right policy, it's a screw up. One hand doesn't know what the other's doing. The administration can't negotiate effectively with its allies or 'talk' with the North Koreans because it hasn't even gotten to the bottom of its negotiations with itself.
This isn't even an ideological issue. It's leadership 101. You can't deal with anyone in good faith if you go into it without a consensus on what you should do. The more it is apparent that you haven't got a clue the more damaging it is to your position. It's not the size of the ship, it's the motion of the ocean. Right now the world is feeling mighty queasy.

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