David Ignatius has an interesting column today, raising the possibility of war with Iran. In the past, Ignatius has shared my skepticism about the possibility that the Administration would jump this shark–the military is very much opposed to it–but what happens if Bush launches a targeted air and special ops strike on the Qods Force/Hezballah training camps in Iran? What if this happens during the fall campaign? I’ve been busy with the presidential race and haven’t kept up with my military, intelligence and regional sources these past few months. But it’s time to revisit this issue now. Stay tuned.
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The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy
More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.
