Schieffer: Kudos For Stating The Obvious

McCain's Statement That The U.S. Should Never Go It Alone Is, Sadly, Proved Right Too Often

(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.

[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!

[samthetvcat]

I lived in France for a year when I was a kid, and remember even back then how Algerian terrorism was the ongoing price the French were paying for trying to ''democratize'' Northern Africa decades ago.

Domestic terrorism is a big ongoing problem for them, but I''m not sure McCain has really stopped to learn about how that evolved for them and how their views may in fact be different from ours. If they didn''t feel the need to join in the ''coalition'' to overthrow Saddam, just how specifically does he think he''s going to persuade countries such as France to join in his fight against ''radical islam'' . . . is it by giving them our multi-billion dollar defense contracts?

That then brings up the question of whether the deficits he''s continuing to rack up are doing more long-term damage than good - because aren''t countries starting to look to China to borrow money, and hasn''t that given them increased influence in places like South America?

[samthetvcat]

--"Bob Schieffer is right in his analysis. And this is why Clinton Democrats will go for McCain if NObama gets the Dem nomination."--
Posted by PARIS1969

Les French say oui to McAirbus!

[samthetvcat]

Here''s the rest of McSame''s speech on specifically what platform he hoped to engage the rest of the world (from the link provided under the photo):

--"Instead, he said, the country must lead by attracting others to its cause, demonstrating the virtues of freedom and democracy, defending the rules of an international civilized society and creating new international institutions."

"If we lead by shouldering our international responsibilities and pointing the way to a better and safer future for humanity ... it will strengthen us to confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical Islamic terrorism"--

In another piece he also stated that he was interested in pursuing a free trade agreement with the European Union - not sure but I think he said it while in France congratulating them for subsidizing the Airbus deal that gave them our military contract.

[samthetvcat]

menmotoscutr, you DO realize that the guy who said GD America also served in VietNam don''t you? You know who didn''t serve in VietNam was the other person who said God was damning America with 9/11, Jerry Falwell.

As for Rowdy''s claim that a trip to Bosnia gives one greater principles of record, not a strong claim imo . . .

I never heard John McCain God *** America, not even while in the stockade of North Vietnam. And I never heard him sit quietly while anyone else did it. He may be 70 years old but this country is three times that old. They both have plenty of life left in them.

[paris1969]

Bob Schieffer is right in his analysis. And this is why Clinton Democrats will go for McCain if NObama gets the Dem nomination.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by janiet3 at 09:28 AM : Mar 31, 2008

One very obvious point! If it''s a choice between McCain and Obama, it''s a no brainer. McCain is standing on the principles of record. Obama is right up there with Bush''s 935 lies.

[janiet3]

My 2 cents worth. John McCain is a nice, good-old white haired, grandfatherly type, who served his country. Fine, good.

He is way past his prime, his mind is VERY obviously gone or danged near it, and beyond that he offers no solutions, just more of the GW we can abide hardly one more day. As a matter of fact, we''re doggoned forunate we''ve survived is thus far. More of that? You most certainly have got to be kidding me. Tell me that you are, or if you can''t be honest make a case, any case if you can, why you think this poor old geezer could possibly make a good prez for this country. My guess is you cannot.

[rowdytexan2]

Good for McCain...he''s sounding better every day! Especially given the option of a corrupt crook like Obama. We don''t need Richard Daly''s crooked Chicago backers in our White House.

[skyk-2009]

If you believe that he meant the thing about a thousand years or a 100 you are tone deaf. Read David Brook''''s column in the NYT. He is a respected jounalist and finds Mr. McCain to be a pragmatist who doesn''''t follow the leader but if you are a dem or have blinders on you will follow the leader and listen to the talking points and believe them


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Posted by alanrobisch2 at 09:50 PM : Mar 30, 2008
+ report abuse

Anyone who thinks this tired old man and his policies will get us out of the horrible mess we''re in is simply dreaming. He has NOTHING new to add and has proposed the same tired old economic plan as well. We have Social Security to deal with, Medicare to deal with, a failed Health Care System to deal with, Bin Laden is still out there and has to be dealt with... I could go on for awhile but the POINT is that ALL these problems were THERE and needed to be dealt with for 6 years that Mr. McSame and his Party had full and complete control of the Government. Did they even help any of those problems? Nope! All of them are bigger and thus more difficult to deal with today than they were when the Republican''s came into power. Now add to that the Trade Agreements which are HIGHLY discriminatory toward AMERICAN Workers and you have a situation Mr. McSame can NOT and has told us WILL NOT do anything about.