Applause lines

David Ignatius at the Washington Post warns McCain: zingers do not make good foreign policy. I’ve been talking with people lately who would make the same point to Obama. There is real uneasiness about the way he describes the need to send more US troops to Afghanistan. End the war in Iraq, Obama says, and win the war in Afghanistan. Makes for a grea applause line to Democratic Party crowds. But is it good foreign policy? One of Obama’s own advisors doesn’t think so.

I put the question to Susan Rice in a recent interview and she said that people just aren’t listening closely enough to Obama’s proposals. She’s one of Obama’s top foreign policy advisors. Here’s her answer to my question about Afghanistan. Apologies in advance for the poor audio – phone – quality (it was the best I could get at the time).