The Superpower Myth?

The first chapter of Soderburg's book, The Superpower Myth, is available on-line. It's worth reading for an insider's view of Clinton's foreign policy. She admires the man and believes that he made all the right choices, but several things come through. Clinton did a complete reversal of much of his foreign policy between the campaign and taking office. Clinton wasn't really interested in foreign policy. He didn't get along with the military (she glosses over the gay issue but between that and his draft-dodging he had no credibility with the Pentagon).

It is also interesting that Clinton could not get the State Department to follow his policies. He wanted to recognize Angola but the State Department never got around to it. Finally Clinton announced the recognition in a press conference and let the State Department "pick up the pieces." One wonders why Clinton didn't go ahead and give the State Department a deadline - you recognise them or I will.

A couple of other things - Europe's reluctance to intervene in Bosnia must be remembered when talking about Iraq. If they were not willing to stop genocide in their own back yard then they lost the moral high ground in the debate on Iraq. Clinton's policy became "tell, don't ask." In other words, he acted unilaterally. Just like Bush.

Also, if people in the Bush administration were in favor of invading Iraq from day one, it should be pointed out that Madeline Albright was in favor of attacking Serbia from day one.

From the day he took office, I was struck by how incompetent Clinton was. I had the opposite reaction to Bush. History books will remember Reagan and Bush (43) but skip over Bush (41) and Clinton.