Sarah Palin talked to Greta Van Susteren about Libya and was her usual gung-ho self, attacking the president for not taking the lead, blah blah. Sarah Palin's approach to foreign relations, diplomacy and strategy is "bull in a china shop" style and if anybody shows disrespect for "our men and women in uniform," it's her, not the president. In her book, the troops are there for America to display her might without any regard to the loss of human lives. She also shows disrespect for America, as any major involvement in another conflict would hurt the recovering economy.
America has taken the lead, but being engaged in two other wars, there is understandable concern abour further involvement in Libya. John Bohener demanded to know when Obama is going to hand over control of the operation to European and other allies.
There are conflicting views about Obama's approach to the situation in Libya and what role America should play in it. In the UK, some commentators said Obama is the first American president to show real leadership in a long time. On Newsnight a couple of nights ago, the general consensus was that president Obama is right in his balanced decision to let the international community take the lead, with America as a team player instead of going in with all guns blazing and taking other countries kicking and screaming into the battle as it did in the past. These political commentators recognize that president Obama is dealing with a financial crisis at home, existing wars abroad and can't afford to commit to further loss of life and to finding the many millions of dollars to fund a full involvement in yet another conflict.
Sarah Palin's simplistic "solutions" don't take the complexities of the situation into account at all. As she is now an "expert" in foreign relations, her attacks on the president will escalate and her soundbites become more poisonous, but still lack any substance or any understanding of how things work in the real world.
Jason Easley has a very good article about Sarah Palin's views on Israel, Iran and how she's losing it.
