Krauthammer’s Take
NRO Staff
The Corner
From last night’s All Stars.
On Obama’s changing tone on NAFTA:
<<< Obama is a guy who has the talent of leaving his past behind. And he considers the candidate Obama is a guy of the past. He has changed a lot of his opinions.
He clearly understands that what he said in the campaign about NAFTA was demagoguery. Even in the campaign, he began hinting that it was not serious.
And, clearly, in the middle of a recession, he is worried about protectionism.
His problem is the Democrats at home, because ever since the passing of NAFTA in the '90's, the Democrats in the Congress have drifted to protectionism, and he has to hold them off.
In the stimulus package, he had a provision about buying America, which is a real problem, a threat to all of our allies. It raised a lot of alarm in Europe, and Obama managed to have added a provision in which you buy America, but only if it is in conjunction with our treaties.
So it softened it. It still leaves loopholes, but it softened it, and made peace with the Canadians.
Obama has a talent of throwing a bone to the left but governing in the center, as he will on trade, as he is doing on Guantanamo and interrogation. He leaves a lot of caveats and loopholes. It looks as if he is hanging left, but at least it looks as if, at the same time, he is governing reasonably, particularly on trade. >>>
On the Pakistani government cutting a deal with Taliban militants:
<<< I think it will be a disaster. The Indians are extremely upset about the deal with the Islamic militants in the Swat valley, because it tells them how weak the government is in Pakistan. And the weakness of that government is the reason why the gaffe by Feinstein was such a disastrous one….
But it tells you that if the government has to play a double game, the government in Pakistan, and it had to concede territory to Islamic militants, you worry about its control in the country.
Our worry today is about Afghanistan. But Afghanistan is a problem. Pakistan is the prize….
[The deal is] a sign of weakness. The reason that deal was cut is because the Pakistani military had lost the battle. It was not a magnanimous gesture on the part of Islamabad. It was a loss, and that's why it will regret the day it gave over the Swat valley. >>>
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