More Foreign Policy “Straight Talk” From McCain

This CNN story tells us that…

John McCain, outlining his foreign policy positions on the heels of an overseas trip, is renewing his call for the United States to work more collegially with democratic nations and live up to its duties as a world leader.

"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," the Republican said in prepared remarks a few days after returning from the Middle East and Europe. "We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies."

Gosh, how decent of McCain to act like a protocol observed by almost every other country on earth is somehow a revolutionary concept to us.

However, Der Spiegel observed the following about “Senator Honor And Virtue” only two months ago (from here)…

John McCain made a rather terrible joke while campaigning in South Carolina in April last year. When asked about Iran, the Arizona senator laughed, and broke into his Beach Boys impression. Changing the words of "Barbara Ann" slightly, he began softly singing, “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran,” to general laughter. Force, to state the obvious, is clearly an option for McCain when dealing with Iran.

Senator McCain would make most Europeans wince in more conventional ways as well. Seeing Russia and China as impediments to an Iranian settlement, McCain calls for bypassing the UN, urging a global league of democracies to impose sanctions on the mullahs instead. Such an alienation of Russia and especially China would likely result in the two upping their investments in oil and gas-rich Iran just as quickly as Europeans were preparing to leave. Without a more comprehensive set of sanctions, such an effort would fail, economically harming America’s allies in the process, while enriching those who oppose the US over Iran. This half-hearted effort at diplomacy seems to be a non-starter, in policy terms.

McCain, though, is not prepared to go very far down the diplomatic road. He would not speak to the Iranians until they change their position on their nuclear program, at which point speaking to them would be unnecessary. He follows in the dubious Bush tradition of seeing diplomatic contact with Washington as a reward rather than as a real-world necessity. McCain has been clear that the only thing worse than military action against Iran is an Iran with nuclear weapons. Given his threadbare efforts at diplomacy, this is likely where a McCain presidency would lead.

Also, here’s a news flash to the presumptive Repug presidential nominee; in terms of accomplishing its goals stated to us by Bushco before it began, the surge has failed.

And when it comes to domestic issues such as the most pivotal one discussed here by SusanG of The Daily Kos, McCain is no better.