Thursday, March 15, 2007

Brzezinski Says All is Not Lost… If….

Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski was on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show last night. He was Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. This coming March 28th he will be 79 years old. He was considered a hawk when he was in the Carter administration. Brzezinski said on TDS, and I paraphrase: The fact that the Bush administration has seen itself as being morally superior has led the Bush administration to engage in immoral acts. One of which, Brzezinski said, was the “illegal and unnecessary” war in Iraq. Brzezinski has just published a book, “Second Chance”. It spells out how the last three presidents have goofed in leading America to be a real superpower after the Cold War. In the book, Brzezinski says GHW Bush was "a superb crisis manager but not a strategic visionary." He says Clinton was "the perfect symbol of a benign but all-powerful America," but Clinton was mesmerized by his vision of "globalization." Brzezinski says George W. Bush, has been a catastrophic leader whose war in Iraq "has caused calamitous damage to America's global standing". He says the war in Iraq has been “a geopolitical disaster" and it "has increased the terrorist threat to the United States." The next president of the United States, Brzezinski argues, will need to have a sense of the injustice of the human condition. If the US opts for another president who is self indulgent, who is unaware and uncaring about social issues and who is ignorant about the world (all of which attributes describe GWB), Brzezinski says the US will miss its second and perhaps last chance to become a superpower. I too, would like to believe that the United States has not irreparably damaged its reputation worldwide. I too would like to believe that catastrophic as the Bush administration has been regarding our ability to defend ourselves, all is not lost and that America can rise again to become a respected and respectable superpower. I too would like to once again feel pride about being an American. Right now, it’s up for grabs which one of the many candidates would fit Brzezinski’s idea of a good US president. But I can tell you who cannot measure up to the Brzezinski ideal. ANY REPUBLICAN who has already thrown his hat in the ring and ANY REPUBLICAN who may come out of the woodwork as a presidential candidate between now and the Republican National Convention in September 2008 is morally and ethically unfit and too tainted by association with the present White House to be President of the United States. All is not lost unless a Republican is elected president in 2008.

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