Why the U.S. Election Mattered

Why the Election Mattered

NEWSWEEK

Email To A Friend

Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.

SPONSORED BY

Since the new administration will have to clean up various inherited messes and do so in highly straitened circumstances, its initial accomplishments may appear underwhelming. But the essence of prudence is avoiding unnecessary trouble, so many of its true successes will be notable less by their presence than by their absence. And since so many contemporary problems can only be managed or contained rather than solved, critics will always have plenty to complain about. But just as the Bush administration proved to be a lesson in the bad things that happen when public policy is not taken seriously, so an Obama administration may well become an ongoing lesson in the good that can happen when it is. And if that's how things work out—if Obama's style is matched by substance—then his presidency might almost live up to the extraordinary hype accompanying its arrival.

Rose is the managing editor of Foreign Affairs.

I don't know that I would totally agree with your assertion that we start wars. On September 11, 2001, I don't believe that we started that conflict with a bunch of idiots who flew planes into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon or into a field in Pennsylvania. Now should we have gotten involved in a war in Iraq? I didn't think so at the time because I did not feel that this was in America's best interests. Unfortunately, if you look at any war that we have been involved in most of them have dragged out. Had we left Iraq earlier we might have left a bigger mess than we started. My feeling is that we should not have gotten in alot of these wars in the first place because when a war drags on with all of the death and destruction it becomes more distatsteful. Look at Vietnam. We were there for a dozen years. After we pulled out an even bigger calamity occurred, Pol Pot and his Khemer Rouge thugs killed over 2 million people in Cambodia and piled their skulls up like souveniers. I feel that we need a strong military for protection, but we need to stay out of so many of these wars because they drag on to long and whenver we pull out a bigger calamity could happen.

Member Comments

- Reply
- Report Abuse
Posted By: tiredofobama @ 01/07/2009 9:41:59 PM

I don't know that I would totally agree with your assertion that we start wars. On September 11, 2001, I don't believe that we started that conflict with a bunch of idiots who flew planes into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon or into a field in Pennsylvania. Now should we have gotten involved in a war in Iraq? I didn't think so at the time because I did not feel that this was in America's best interests. Unfortunately, if you look at any war that we have been involved in most of them have dragged out. Had we left Iraq earlier we might have left a bigger mess than we started. My feeling is that we should not have gotten in alot of these wars in the first place because when a war drags on with all of the death and destruction it becomes more distatsteful. Look at Vietnam. We were there for a dozen years. After we pulled out an even bigger calamity occurred, Pol Pot and his Khemer Rouge thugs killed over 2 million people in Cambodia and piled their skulls up like souveniers. I feel that we need a strong military for protection, but we need to stay out of so many of these wars because they drag on to long and whenver we pull out a bigger calamity could happen.
- Reply
- Report Abuse
Posted By: brydges @ 01/05/2009 3:18:20 PM

"amateurism and irresponsibility " is this a knock on Bush or is Newsweek refeing to it's journalism. there was a time in this country when this type of yellow journalism was looked down upon. Thank you liibtards for taking the respect out of yet another profession.
- Reply
- Report Abuse
Posted By: wildechild66 @ 01/02/2009 2:32:10 PM

It is refreshing to see that our politicians and reporters are returning to common sense and a healthy perspective, as opposed to letting the intolerant and the paranoid minority run the platforms, the news broadcasts, and the 'Comments' pages.