Author Topic: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership  (Read 1185 times)

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Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« on: March 18, 2014, 08:37:15 pm »
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304747404579445170801186310#printMode

Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
The President's failure to act when action was possible has diminished respect for the U.S. and made troubles worse.
By
Mitt Romney
March 17, 2014 7:17 p.m. ET

Why are there no good choices? From Crimea to North Korea, from Syria to Egypt, and from Iraq to Afghanistan, America apparently has no good options. If possession is nine-tenths of the law, Russia owns Crimea and all we can do is sanction and disinvite—and wring our hands.

Iran is following North Korea's nuclear path, but it seems that we can only entreat Iran to sign the same kind of agreement North Korea once signed, undoubtedly with the same result.

Our tough talk about a red line in Syria prompted Vladimir Putin's sleight of hand, leaving the chemicals and killings much as they were. We say Bashar Assad must go, but aligning with his al Qaeda-backed opposition is an unacceptable option.

And how can it be that Iraq and Afghanistan each refused to sign the status-of-forces agreement with us—with the very nation that shed the blood of thousands of our bravest for them?

Why, across the world, are America's hands so tied?

A large part of the answer is our leader's terrible timing. In virtually every foreign-affairs crisis we have faced these past five years, there was a point when America had good choices and good options. There was a juncture when America had the potential to influence events. But we failed to act at the propitious point; that moment having passed, we were left without acceptable options. In foreign affairs as in life, there is, as Shakespeare had it, "a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries."

When protests in Ukraine grew and violence ensued, it was surely evident to people in the intelligence community—and to the White House—that President Putin might try to take advantage of the situation to capture Crimea, or more. That was the time to talk with our global allies about punishments and sanctions, to secure their solidarity, and to communicate these to the Russian president. These steps, plus assurances that we would not exclude Russia from its base in Sevastopol or threaten its influence in Kiev, might have dissuaded him from invasion.

Months before the rebellion began in Syria in 2011, a foreign leader I met with predicted that Assad would soon fall from power. Surely the White House saw what this observer saw. As the rebellion erupted, the time was ripe for us to bring together moderate leaders who would have been easy enough for us to identify, to assure the Alawites that they would have a future post-Assad, and to see that the rebels were well armed.

The advent of the Arab Spring may or may not have been foreseen by our intelligence community, but after Tunisia, it was predictable that Egypt might also become engulfed. At that point, pushing our friend Hosni Mubarak to take rapid and bold steps toward reform, as did Jordan's king, might well have saved lives and preserved the U.S.-Egypt alliance.

The time for securing the status-of-forces signatures from leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan was before we announced in 2011 our troop-withdrawal timeline, not after it. In negotiations, you get something when the person across the table wants something from you, not after you have already given it away.

Able leaders anticipate events, prepare for them, and act in time to shape them. My career in business and politics has exposed me to scores of people in leadership positions, only a few of whom actually have these qualities. Some simply cannot envision the future and are thus unpleasantly surprised when it arrives. Some simply hope for the best. Others succumb to analysis paralysis, weighing trends and forecasts and choices beyond the time of opportunity.

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton traveled the world in pursuit of their promise to reset relations and to build friendships across the globe. Their failure has been painfully evident: It is hard to name even a single country that has more respect and admiration for America today than when President Obama took office, and now Russia is in Ukraine. Part of their failure, I submit, is due to their failure to act when action was possible, and needed.

A chastened president and Secretary of State Kerry, a year into his job, can yet succeed, and for the country's sake, must succeed. Timing is of the essence.
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Offline Right_in_Virginia

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2014, 10:55:15 pm »
Quote
Able leaders anticipate events, prepare for them, and act in time to shape them...\  Some simply hope for the best. Others succumb to analysis paralysis, weighing trends and forecasts and choices beyond the time of opportunity.

With Romney we could have had an able leader. 

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2014, 12:15:52 am »
With Romney we could have had an able leader.

But stupid STUPID voters believed the crap spewing from people like Obama/Biden, claiming things were just hunky dory in the world and they had things well in hand..
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Howie66

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2014, 12:21:11 am »
With Romney we could have had an able leader.

Sarah Palin predicted this mess in 2008. She can be an able leader.
I come in peace, I didn't bring artillery.  But I am pleading with you with tears in my eyes:  If you bleep with me, I'll kill you all.

Marine General James Mattis, to Iraqi tribal leaders (Note: Mattis did NOT say "BLEEP". He threw the F Bomb)

I didn't enlist in the Corps just to watch my country become a Third World Communist Shit-hole. Don't know anyone who did.

Offline Howie66

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2014, 12:22:21 am »
But stupid STUPID voters believed the crap spewing from people like Obama/Biden, claiming things were just hunky dory in the world and they had things well in hand..

What Obama and Biden had "well in hand" wasn't meant to be revealed to the general public.
I come in peace, I didn't bring artillery.  But I am pleading with you with tears in my eyes:  If you bleep with me, I'll kill you all.

Marine General James Mattis, to Iraqi tribal leaders (Note: Mattis did NOT say "BLEEP". He threw the F Bomb)

I didn't enlist in the Corps just to watch my country become a Third World Communist Shit-hole. Don't know anyone who did.

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2014, 12:24:58 am »
What Obama and Biden had "well in hand" wasn't meant to be revealed to the general public.

No kidding ........
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline katzenjammer

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2014, 12:46:11 am »
But stupid STUPID voters believed the crap spewing from people like Obama/Biden, claiming things were just hunky dory in the world and they had things well in hand..

And they cheated like hell to steal several swing states!!   :thud:

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2014, 12:54:46 am »
Sarah Palin predicted this mess in 2008. She can be an able leader.

predicting the problem is not the same as being able to solve the problem.

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2014, 01:17:11 am »
http://www.redstate.com/2014/03/18/mitt-romney-foreign-policy-oops-reset-button/

Mitt Romney Twists The Foreign Policy Knife.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  March 18th, 2014 at 12:00 PM   

The use of the Shakespeare quote was particularly vicious. I approve, mind you:

    In virtually every foreign-affairs crisis we have faced these past five years, there was a point when America had good choices and good options. There was a juncture when America had the potential to influence events. But we failed to act at the propitious point; that moment having passed, we were left without acceptable options. In foreign affairs as in life, there is, as Shakespeare had it, “a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.”

Slightly ironic, of course, given that in Julius Caesar you could argue that Cassius was right in that particular case to delay offering battle, and Brutus wrong in wanting to strike while their army was still at its peak. But the truth is that Brutus’s principle was sound; he merely had the misfortune of being a character in a play where the other side was going to win, no matter what. And while that victory may have been preordained by Shakespeare, the real-world situations described by Mitt Romney were something that we could have influenced: for both our benefit, and the world’s.

Besides, the odds that anybody in Obama’s Executive Branch has enough of a proper education to recognize the reference on sight were, shall we say, long. Even I had to look up a couple of the details.

Moe Lane (crosspost)
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Howie66

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2014, 02:52:51 am »
predicting the problem is not the same as being able to solve the problem.

I think that she would be a damned sight better equipped than what we have now, or might have had with Romney.
I come in peace, I didn't bring artillery.  But I am pleading with you with tears in my eyes:  If you bleep with me, I'll kill you all.

Marine General James Mattis, to Iraqi tribal leaders (Note: Mattis did NOT say "BLEEP". He threw the F Bomb)

I didn't enlist in the Corps just to watch my country become a Third World Communist Shit-hole. Don't know anyone who did.

Offline sinkspur

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2014, 02:57:35 am »
I think that she would be a damned sight better equipped than what we have now, or might have had with Romney.

Based on what?  She couldn't even tell Katie Couric what newspapers or magazines she reads.
Roy Moore's "spiritual warfare" is driving past a junior high without stopping.

Oceander

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Re: Romney: The Price of Failed Leadership
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2014, 03:05:31 am »
I think that she would be a damned sight better equipped than what we have now, or might have had with Romney.

I agree with the first point but disagree with the second.