Is Obama Taking Russia’s Side?
The Obama campaign has accused McCain of only taking a tough stance against Russia over its attack of Georgia because one of McCain’s foreign policy advisers, Randy Scheunemann, used to lobby for Georgia. Which, as Ed Morrissey explains, shows Obama’s utter naivete when it comes to the Georgian crisis.
Why attack Scheuneman for working on behalf of a democratic ally of the United States? It seems especially strange now, while the Russians drop bombs on civilian centers in Gori and Tbilisi, and most people understand Russian intent to keep Georgia from allying even closer with the West. Scheuneman certainly did nothing wrong in representing Georgia previous to his work for McCain, and Obama’s attack on McCain suggests that Obama doesn’t value Georgia’s friendship and doesn’t understand the strategic necessity of Georgian independence from Moscow.
It seems odd that Obama would seem to take Russia’s side against Georgia like this. After all, Georgia did nothing to provoke a Russian invasion other than to seek increased levels of political freedom and closer ties to the west.
If anything this illustrates Obama’s complete willingness to engage in any amount of pandering in order to stave off open hostilities. War is an ugly thing, yes, but is avoiding armed conflict worth the price of overlooking blatantly hostile actions on behalf of the Russians? In this situation it is Russia that is 100% in the wrong and Georgia that is 100% in the right, yet Obama (in the modern liberal tradition) seems unwilling to draw such distinctions.
