President Bush changes the direction of the presidential race

I am sure many of you have already heard about the thinly veiled attack President Bush launched against democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama yesterday from the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. If you have not, here is the quote…

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

Now, I am not here to debate whether the president is right or wrong in his historical interpretation, or if he is right correctly representing Senator Obama’s foreign policy. Nor am I going to enter the debate over whether it is appropriate to make such political statements in a foreign country. Instead, I am simply here to thank the president for taking the nonsense out of the political discussion, even for a short while, and sending the pundits back to topics of substance.

We are no longer hearing 24 hours of coverage dealing with various exit polls, angry former pastors, or lapel pins. For now, it seems the constant questioning of the democrats about the “dream ticket” will be on hold. Instead, President Bush has forced us into a discussion that is worthy of a presidential election of this magnitude. Now, we are finally talking seriously about foreign policy. Sure, this may not have been the best way to begin this discussion, but I will take what I can get.

posted by Dave McBride of the American Public House Review