Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Talk

For Clinton and Obama, A Debate Point Won’t Die – washingtonpost.com
“Nobody expects that you would suddenly just sit down with them for coffee without having done the appropriate groundwork,” [Obama] said. “But the question was: Would you meet them without preconditions? And part of the Bush doctrine has been to say no.”

The question was whether a US President should meet with leaders of hostile nations. Clinton says “no”. Obama says “yes”. Clinton then goes on to accuse Obama of being naive.

I’m handing this round to Obama.

Hillary Clinton’s “get tough” foreign policy really does represent an outdated view of how the United States needs to relate to the rest of the world. Part of the reason we’re in the mess we’re in today is because the United States hasn’t been willing to just talk to countries like Iran and North Korea.

It will undoubtedly take years for us to establish any kind of meaningful dialog with the leaders of these countries, but we’ve got to start somewhere — and the best place to start is to just sit down with them and talk. Talk without preconditions. Without expectations. Just talk. And talk and talk and talk. Until, eventually, we find something we have in common. A starting point!

It’s the only way.

On this point alone, I’d vote for Obama. It’s that critical to the future of our country — and of our world.