Mitt Romney's reaction to recent events overseas should not be viewed as a gaffe. They are an excellent illustration of the way Mitt Romney and his neoconservative policy advisers view the world, which is fundamentally different from the way liberals look at the world.
In brief, liberals view the world as a global neighborhood where diplomacy is used to amicably resolve disputes among equals, and where force is reserved for preventing harm when diplomacy has already failed.
Neoconservatives view the world the way a bully views the playground. There are no sovereigns with equal rights, there are only objects to use for one's own interests. Diplomacy means threatening to beat people up if they don't surrender their lunch money, and force is acceptable "as a last resort!" any time "diplomacy" as thus defined fails to get other people to give up and do what we tell them to.
The fundamental beliefs that an administration brings to the table are likely to prejudge the decisions that that administration makes in time of stress. With the same fundamental worldview as the Bush administration (not to mention many advisers recycled from the Bush administration...) we can expect a repeat of many of the same mistakes. Especially since they still don't see them as mistakes.
Let's take a look, shall we? (more...)
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