Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Lame-duck President, huh. Seems to me Bush took the right stance on this situation from the get-go.
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Azure, that really isn't the point. I never said that Bush handled the Georgian situation badly--all I said was that if he hadn't squandered every iota of his influence and political capital on a failed and ill-conceived neo-con nation-building project, then he might have hoped for another
outcome. By which I mean an outcome that isn't being told to go wait in the car while Sarkozy deals with the situation.
In fact, your example illustrates my point; a more influential U.S. probably could never hope to stop Russia from using any pretext to invade Georgia. But they might be able to convince Georgia not to give them that pretext in the first place. And they might be able to influence Russia's actions after the invasion has happened. Bush can't do either of them--and it's not because he's doing anything wrong. He doesn't have enough influence.
Bush has handled this situation as well as he can given the influence he has. I'd even say he's handled it perfectly. It's the other seven years that are giving him a little trouble right now.