QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:10 A.M. ET:  Agree or disagree, Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal has written a clear, hard-hitting piece defining "credibility" as the missing link in American foreign policy.  Stephens, an unabashed hawk, believes that we must restore America's credibility if we want our foreign policy to succeed again:

The GOP ought to have a different watchword for America and the world: credibility. The credibility of our promises, and of our threats. The credibility of the dollar, and of our debt. The credibility of our arms, and of our willingness, when decision is made, to use them to decisive effect. The Roman epigram that has become the unofficial motto of the Marine Corps sums it up nicely: "No better friend; no worse enemy."

And...

It is not credible to insist that a nuclear Iran is "unacceptable"—and then announce plans for the containment of a nuclear Iran. It is not credible to surge 30,000 troops to Afghanistan—and then provide the Taliban with a date certain for the beginning of our withdrawal. It is not credible to intervene in Libya on humanitarian grounds—while promising that Moammar Gadhafi is not a target (falsely, as it would turn out).

It is not credible to assert that the New Start treaty with Russia does nothing to limit U.S. missile defenses—only to be flatly contradicted on the point by the Russian foreign minister at the ceremony exchanging ratification documents.

And...

The U.S. would be credible if it desisted from pouring more diplomatic wine into the punctured jar that is the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process." Or if it took serious steps to help overthrow the Assad regime, thereby depriving Iran of its principal ally in the Arab world and its link to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Or if it abandoned its nascent efforts to negotiate with the Taliban and instead published the names of Taliban leaders on the drone-strike list. Or if it dramatically increased the size of the U.S. Navy to counter China's naval buildup. Or if it desisted from all rhetoric suggesting that it can solve its budget woes by further cutting Pentagon spending.

This list, too, goes on. In foreign policy, as in so much else in life, credibility is the currency nations use to achieve results without resort to more drastic means. President Obama, spendthrift in so many ways, has been particularly wasteful here. A Republican foreign policy would be a sustained attempt to recover this squandered capital.

COMMENT:  Note the last line.  We hope that's what a Republican foreign policy will be.  But, if you read my post on isolationism today you know that there is real cause for concern.  The party is increasingly fractured.  It may be tempted to follow the latest trends in public opinion. Our weak economy works against a strong foreign policy. 

We are already handing the next generation a huge bill for our profligacy.  It would be tragic to add to that a huge war because we haven't maintained our strength. 

June 21, 2011