The Obama doctrine is essentially the Bush doctrine
Quite of a "change", indeed. And that's according to the candidate himself, in form of the policies offered in the New Hampshire Democratic debate on Saturday night:
http://britainandamerica.typepad.com/britain_and_america/200...
Here's the relevant excerpt:
BRIAN ROSS, ABC CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: After more than six years of trying, the United States still does not have a reliable way to spot nuclear material that terrorists might smuggle into the country, much as ABC News twice did in demonstrations without being caught. And after six years of trying, the United States has yet to capture the man who says it is his religious duty to get nuclear weapons: Osama bin Laden.
GIBSON: Well, Osama bin Laden, as he pointed out, has said it is his duty to try to get nuclear weapons. Al Qaeda has been reconstituted and re-energized in the western part of Pakistan. And so my general question is, how aggressively would you go after Al Qaeda leadership there? And let me start with you, Senator Obama…
"Gibson reminded Obama that he pledged as president to launch a military strike in western Pakistan if he had “actionable intelligence” that bin Laden was there—whether or not the Pakistani government agreed. Obama implied he would take this action with or without approval from the United Nations Security Council, meaning he would act “unilaterally” to violate the sovereignty of a U.N. member state. He would do this not in response to an attack against the United States, he suggested, but to prevent another anticipated attack, meaning he would act “pre-emptively.” In other words, he would act pre-emptively and unilaterally if the security of the United States depended on swift military action."
GIBSON: Do you stand by that?
"Obama’s lips begin to move, slowly."
OBAMA: I do stand by it, Charlie. What I said was that we should do everything in our power to push and cooperate with the Pakistani government in taking on Al Qaeda, which is now based in northwest Pakistan…What I said was, if they could not or would not do so, and we had actionable intelligence, then I would strike.
GIBSON: I’m going to the others in a moment, but what you just outlined is essentially the Bush doctrine.
"There they go again! The politics of fear!"
OBAMA: No, this is not the same thing…this is not speculation.
"Hence the Obama antidote to the politics of fear: Be certain, very certain, about the intentions of the bad guys before you apply the Bush doctrine to international threats to U.S. security. And be certain, very certain, never to call your doctrine pre-emption or imply you might approve unilateral action or that you suspect the Patriot Act might have prevented another terrorist attack on U.S. soil."
