Obama doesn't Kabuki

Barack Obama has made several statements which have drawn criticism from both Democratic and Republican candidates, who claim that these statements show Obama's inexperience. The only inexperience shown is not in foreign policy, but in the weird kabuki world of political campaigns.

Obama has basically said three things: we should talk with our enemies, we shouldn't nuke Pakistan to get the Taliban, and relying on air power in a counterinsurgency is counterproductive. In any other world but the world of Presidential campaigns, those statements would not only be right, but would be blindingly obvious.

We've basically been holding our breath and not talking to Cuba for 40 years, and Castro's still there, so I can't see how refusing to talk with our enemies is helpful to anybody. Nuking Pakistan, besides being completely morally wrong, would be stupid; Pakistan has nukes as well, and even if they don't have the capability of delivering those nukes as far as the US, throwing a country with nukes into chaos seems like a really bad idea.

Air power has been oversold since at least World War II. It gets used because it's a way to deliver damage while risking less yourself. Problem is, it tends to be indiscriminate; the accuracy is never what's promised. Bombing doesn't just take out "strategic" targets; it produces a lot of "collateral" damage, as well. In other words, it kills lot of civilians, which tends to make people more willing to fight, not less. Just look at what happened here after 9/11: we invaded a country that hadn't even been involved even peripherally with that attack.

I generally prefer to look at what a candidate has done rather than what he says, but at least Obama is saying some things that make sense, that other candidates seem unwilling to say out of fear of looking weak.