Huffington Post: Clinton’s Flat and Misleading Foreign Policy Speech

[Miles Archer]

Hillary Clinton’s Flat and Misleading Foreign Policy Speech

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-astore/hillary-clintons-flat-and_b_10278166.html

William Astore
Writer, Professor, Retired Lt. Colonel, Air Force
06/03/2016 09:31 am ET | Updated 4 hours ago

1. The speech featured the usual American exceptionalism, the usual fear that if America withdraws from the world stage, chaos will result. There was no sense that America’s wars of choice in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc. have greatly contributed to that chaos. Oh, there was also the usual boast that America has the greatest military. That’s what Imperial and Nazi Germany used to boast — until the Germans lost two world wars and smartened up.

2. Hillary mentioned we’re electing “our” next commander-in-chief. No, we’re not. The president is a public servant, not “our” commander-in-chief. The president serves as the civilian commander-in-chief of the military, and the military alone.

3. Hillary mentioned the US has a “moral obligation” to defend Israel. Why is this? Sure, Israel is an American ally, but why is Israel the one country we’re “morally” obligated to defend? There’s only one country we’re morally obligated to defend, and that’s the USA, assuming our government is actually honoring the US Constitution.

4. The speech had no new ideas. It was a laundry list of neo-conservative principles about making America stronger, safer, and so on. As a friend of mine put it, “Nothing that I heard her say deviated in any way from her hawkish record of recommending bombing at every opportunity.”

[Press Virginia]

1. This won't go over well

[anotherproletariat]

3. Huffpo? Shocked...shocked I tell you. nt

[tonyt53]

4. Ah, but the balance of huffpost articles had glowing reviews. One bad apple.

Madeline Albright was very impressed, and she has the credentials that make her hard to impress.

[Wilms]

7. Madeline loving a hawkish speech is not news.

Nor anything to be impressed with...unless you're of the kind that think the death of 1/2 million kids is "worth it".

[icecreamfan]

5. The level of cognitive dissonance is impressive

Holding the belief that Clinton is the best candidate to beat "trigger-happy" Trump when she is calling for a bat-shit crazy "no-fly zone" (US-imposed regime change) in Syria is really impressive.

Clinton doesn't seem to have learned anything productive from her failed policy positions in Iraq, Honduras, Libya and Syria.

[lagomorph777]

6. In between excellent jabs at Trump,

a clear description of a well-defined and terrifying foreign policy.

[jonno99]

9. ^^THIS^^!!! Excellent summation using the fewest words...nt

[winter is coming]

22. ...

It wasn't just the words I found terrifying. It was the number of flags they'd used to dress the stage. I've noticed that speeches trying to convince us that disastrous approach X is/was a good idea tend to have more/larger American flags for a backdrop, as if they think enough stars will switch off the critical thinking ability of the audience. Pretty much any backdrop containing more than two flags raises my hackles--and my suspicions.

[GreatGazoo]

25. Reuters: "19 flags"

!

[GreatGazoo]

28. when I Googled for the count many of the major sources mentioned the abundant number of flags

on that stage.

No doubt they wanted it staged so that no matter what angle a picture was taken from there were nothing but flags behind her.

You could wrap an elephant in 19 flags.

[m-lekktor]

23. Her supporters seemed to imply the whole speech consisted of eloquent Trump bashing

and they accused anybody critical of the speech of being supportive of Trump or 'pro Trump" . I guess they hoped everybody ignored the part where she was channeling Dick Cheney. How fucking disingenuous.

[Ghost Dog]

35. Is there also a thinly-veiled warning here (to all candidates)?

The retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and history professor points out that the civilian President is head of the US government and as such is commander-in-chief of the US military, which is morally obligated to defend the US government as long as the US government honors the US constitution.

So the US military would be morally obligated to take down a US government (or President) that dishonors the US constitution.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

38. No, in a word.

The author does not intend to raise the possibility of a military coup.

[One Black Sheep]

8. Good analysis

America is so damn special we have to defend everyone in the world from everything. And Hillary seems to go right along (happily) with that crap - just like the article says.

[winter is coming]

24. Only we can fix it!

Which all too often translates into ignoring the lessons that other countries have learned. We're not just the land of the free and the home of the brave--we're also the bastion of Not Invented Here.

[asuhornets]

10. Hillary spoke to Donald Trump in a language only he would understand. nt

[JDPriestly]

26. Actually, she didn't "speak," she read.

Can't she talk without a teleprompter?

[SidDithers]

33. Holy crap...

Did you really just criticize her for using a teleprompter?

A freakin' teleprompter attack?



Sid

[asuhornets]

36. Trump said the exact same thing...Interesting. nt

[NCTraveler]

11. They have so much garbage there these days.

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[YouDig]

12. This idiot is really complaining that she called POTUS "our commander in chief"?

[colsohlibgal]

13. American Exceptionalism

Well our healthcare system is exceptional....in a bad way because it is for profit.

Our slipshod helter skelter voting is also exceptional in a bad way.

We do have aspects of our nation to be proud of.....but in the end isn't the term obnoxious, as in we're better than you other countries?

[BillZBubb]

14. That's an accurate assessment of the speech. It was cotton candy for the neocons.

She touched on all their hopes and desires. That fact that a lot of Democrats can't (won't) see this is astounding.

[KoKo]

15. Hillary mentioned we're electing "our" next commander in chief..

Good point. I cringe whenever a President says that over and over.

2. Hillary mentioned we’re electing “our” next commander-in-chief. No, we’re not. The president is a public servant, not “our” commander-in-chief. The president serves as the civilian commander-in-chief of the military, and the military alone.

[840high]

16. Don't argue with the queen of the USA

[emulatorloo]

18. It is a specific term with a specific meaning, KoKo. Silly word-parsing of "Our"

to create a fake "gotcha" is not a winning argument.

People know it refers to commander in chief of the military.

There are many interesting arguments in the article, but that IMHO that is not one of them.

[KoKo]

20. I respect what you say but "Average "Low Information American Voter" knows this?

Given they work two/three jobs a day and barely have time to think beyond the MSM Propaganda..how would they Know This?

[BootinUp]

17. He's entitled to his opinion. I thank him for his service. nt

[geek tragedy]

19. it wasnt a policy speech, it was an attack speech designed to hammer Trump nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. "4. Ah, but the balance of huffpost articles had glowing reviews. One bad apple." LOL

[highprincipleswork]

29. Life in Hillary World is so sweet. You listen to the Osmonds as much as you want and everything is

clearly "good" or "bad". If it aggrandizes Hillary it is "good". If it points out anything negative about her, it is "bad".

And you get to be incredibly gloating and can call yourself "a winner" and everyone else "a whiner" and lecture others about "math" and stuff.

You don't have to worry about things like laws or rules or wars or the economy hurting people and stuff, because it's all been taken care of, and you're in with the clan.

I'd join up, if I didn't see how much Third Way politics has hurt and is likely in the future to hurt so many people, myself included.

[reddread]

32. pearls

[LibDemAlways]

30. America is truly exceptional. We have

Exceptionally poor and crumbling infrastructure.

Exceptionally unaffordable higher education.

An exceptionally large portion of the national budget that goes toward military spending.

An exceptionally high infant mortality rate..

Exceptionally large numbers of homeless people, many of them veterans, that we choose to ignore.

Exceptionally high health care costs and people with no health insurance at all.

Exceptionally large numbers of people at the top of the corporate ladder making obscene amounts of money while exceptionally large numbers of workers at the bottom struggle to pay their bills.

We're exceptional all right. And there's only one candidate addressing how exceptional we really are, and is interested in finally making some long overdue changes. And that candidate is Bernie Sanders.

[Jitter65]

31. Except for #3 this is pure BS.

"...bombing at every opportunity." Just plain lie. The Iranian agreement sets this lie on fire.

[Demsrule86]

34. A Hillary hater and a Bernie supporter

Thus, why would I give credence to any of his opinions? he has been bashing Hillary for months. And of course with Hillary having sewn up the nomination ...William Astore has joined those who are now on Trumps team. So this is opinion. And I disagree with this guy tearing down Democrats while giving the GOP a free ride... In any case, your source is worthless for anyone who is not already a Sanders supporter.


"Assuming it’s Hillary versus Trump in the fall, it’ll be Trump who has the ideas, crazy or divisive or unsustainable as they may be. And it’ll be Hillary who’ll be running as the “safe” candidate, the anti-Trump, the one whose motto might be, “the audacity of establishment incrementalism.” He also writes at TomDispatch.

Is that what American voters are looking for? Establishment incrementalism? More of the same?

Stay in the race, Bernie Sanders, and give us a real choice this fall."

A retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and history professor, Astore blogs at Bracing Views.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-astore/stay-in-the-race-bernie-s_b_9837680.html

Several pages of google articles bashing Hillary Clinton mostly and attacking Democrats

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=william+astore+is+a+bernie+supporter

[99Forever]

37. Warmongering for profit is all the rage in the neoliberal wing...

... of the Democratic Party.