Republican candidate John McCain is coming out swinging, loud and clear against Russia. In a time when the people of the United States would probably prefer a man who seeks out diplomatic solutions, John McCain is outspoken about being firmly against Russia sticking up for Georgia’s breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. McCain backs Georgia, but a bit too loudly and too late to the party.
It would seem that Barak Obama has also been addressing the situation, though with far less horn-blowing… and started doing so several months ago. More to the point, though, McCain’s statements have been aggressive and downright insulting to Prime Minister Putin, while Barak Obama’s was more so the voice of moderation, calling for restraint and non-violent reconciliation.
The last thing the world needs is another Cold War. McCain is calling Putin a “totalitarian dictator” and claiming to see “K, G and B” in Putin’s eyes. McCain’s version of diplomacy will just about guarantee a Cold War (if we’re lucky.) Yet he’s the more outspoken on the situation in the Republic of Georgia. Where McCain sends his wife to talk about land mines, Obama sends Joe Biden to negotiate peace.
If the new U.S. President is going to bring about a different world image than the last eight years under the Bush administration, that president is going to have to lead the nation along a different path. Bush’s brash bashing about has earned the world’s contempt. It will take more of the Obama method and less of McCain’s horn-blowing to see that change come to fruition.
