Schieffer: Kudos For Stating The Obvious

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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I like the speech that John McCain made on foreign policy last week. I liked it because he stated the obvious.

To quote, "In a world where power of all kinds is more widely and evenly distributed, the United States cannot lead by virtue of its power alone."

He went on to say that when international actions are required, we will try to persuade our friends we are right, but we in turn must also be willing to be persuaded by them.

For sure, our own history shows that when we have worked with others - those who shared our values and sometimes those who didn't - we have worked wonders: Winning World War II, rebuilding Europe, the triumph of Western values over communism. The list is long and something for which we can all be proud.

It is when we have trusted American power alone, especially when we've tried to use military power to solve political problems, that we have been less successful.

During the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, I remember some in government telling me the American military was so good, we didn't need any help, that bringing in others would just slow us down.

To be sure, when we let others know we needed no help, we got none.

But when it all went bad, we got plenty of advice on where we went wrong.

Yes, John McCain just stated the obvious. But it needed to be said. It's when we overlook the obvious that we seem to get into the most trouble.

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E-mail Face the Nation.
By Bob Schieffer

[joecoolswat]

luvwknd, obvious you are not American. We say gas, not petro. Bush has nothing to do with the price of gas, Clinton for 8 years built no new refineries and drilled for no new oil, because he loved the environmentalists. Iraq''s leader did not abide by the gulf-war 1 cease fire agreements, therefore WAR was on. Terrorists are tapped by the feds, not citizens. Excuse us for defending ourselves, who cares if we are liked around the world. Is that the way we defend our interests? do they LIKE us. how F-ing pansy is that. We will destroy any country who messes with the U.S., sorry that you wanted to be liked. You love weekends cause your a worthless POS. McCain will be president, 4 more years! I mean 4 more wars!

[sebastian27-2009]

Amazing! It has taken McCain 6 1/2 years to figure this out. Clinton or Obama may not be the brightest bulbs in the light, but I''ll bet that neither one would not have invaded either Afghanistan or Iraq without more support from more major countries.
I''m sure that he is a nice guy, but he is just an aging Vietnam vet that road his glory to a lifetime job.

[joecoolswat]

Hey luvwknd, You stupid-liberal, peacenick, non-military, know-nothing Democrat makes me puke. You think "why do we have war". WE didn''t start this, they did.. and there will be H ell to pay for anyone who messes with the US again. as long as Republicans are in charge.

[joecoolswat]

Who knows how McCain will handle those situations. My point is he is infinitely more qualified than Barrack Hussein Obama. Who knows nothing about kicking *** militarily. McCain has been to Iraq and Afghan, more than any other Senator and is deeply involved with military classified issues on the armed services committee. The last thing we need in a TIME OF WAR, is a wimpy know-nothing junior senator O''sama.

[taxguydave]

McCain is neither intelligent or smart. He graduated 3rd from the bottom in his class at the Naval Academy. He only got in by virtue of being both son and grandson of 4 star admirals. He was a crappy fighter pilot, and was shot down after making a grievous error.

As a Senator, he champions unpopular causes, but only until he actually figures out that they''re unpopular.

He''s not a leader, and not even a very good follower.

[samthetvcat]

luvwknd, I like your answer better than mine ;D

[samthetvcat]

LMAO - Snoopy (aka JoeCoolSwat), care to elaborate on how John McCain would use his past experience as President as it pertains to Iraq and the war, Iran, Afghanistan; and the economy, Europe, China, South America?

This ought to be good ...

[joecoolswat]

You stupid liberals. You actually think Barrack Hussein Obama is more qualified then John McCain, who is an experienced Senator on the Armed Forces commitee, Veteran fighter pilot and a former prisoner of war. McCain WILL be president, while the jokes Hillary and O''sama destroy each other until August.

[shingles1]

You forgot Poland.

[mardrake1336]

My husband is currently deployed and I TOTALLY agree with your comments. Of course, I am voting Obama however I am glad McCain reminded us of this fact!