Juvenile.
In an interview with NPR, O'Malley was asked whether failing to sign a Pacific trade pact would leave a power vacuum that the Chinese could exploit to boost their dominance in the region:
I've heard also that the speaking point, rather that we need to write these trade rules, otherwise the Chinese will, which is kind of juvenile way to look at the world. I mean the Chinese are going to do what they are going to do in their best national interest. And so too, should we.
He's referring to the 'do or die,' 'either it's us or them' mindset that pervades conservative (and sometimes liberal) thinking on foreign policy.
The conservative view sees the world as a playground where everyone is competing to play on the equipment. There are bullies galore trying to muscle in our swing set. In this environment you survive either by a show of force or, even better, a symbolic show of force. You show everyone who is really in charge. Failure to do this means a foe throw you off your seesaw or jungle gym.
The past doesn't matter. History and tradition are irrelevant. Because what happens in the past has nothing to do with what is happening right now on the playground.
Many pundits espouse these views out of intellectual laziness. They know nothing about the part of the world they are commenting about, but they do think they know a little something about human nature and how the world really works. These leads to reductive dictums like 'You need to flex your muslces every now and then' and 'If you don't stand up to a bully (i.e. Russia, Iran, Venezuela), the bully will try to take more and more away from you.'
None of this, of course, reflects the complexities of the world, but it does sound like the kind of "common sense" liberals would seem to lack.
John Bolton:
"I believe a weaker America invites challenge.”
Tunku Varadarajan at the Daily Beast uses a penis metaphor:
I despair of this latest episode of gestural theater designed to make the U.S. look exquisitely reasonable (should we call it “Jimmy-Cartesian”?), but which in truth results in the U.S. looking flaccid, or worse, complacent.
In terms of foreign policy—or, better put, foreign clout—the U.S. is going through a startling period of auto-emasculation
Phyllis Schlafly in a particularly childish moment:
Schlafly said... she believes that the United States “should be the biggest and the best and the strongest,”
I still don't know who I will vote for, but rest assured, he or she will be all grown-up.