Georgia: First ‘09 Foreign Policy Test?

10 August 2008 |permalink | email article

Imagine again that mythical three a.m. in the morning ad conjured up for Hillary Clinton to asset that she alone was ready to lead on Day One.

Politico reminds that the invasion of Georgia on Thursday night presents candidates John McCain and Barack Obama with a real 3 a.m. moment about how each would respond to a serious international crisis.

A former part of the former Soviet Union Russia has long attempted to reclaim parts of Georgia in the enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, universally recognized as part of Georgian, and thwart its smaller neighbor’s bid to join NATO. 

Both candidates support Georgia’s sovereignty and tilt toward the West so their initial statements revealed differences of both style and substance as to how they would react as commander in chief.

Obama’s initial statement urging restraint on both sides was more aligned with the White House, the European Union, NATO and major European powers.

McCain’s more hawkish response, longer and far more confrontational, echoed much of the ’go it alone’ attitude of Bush’s first term which led to the Iraq war and estrangement from its European allies.

A McCain adviser predictably accused the statement by Obama of constituting appeasement. Obama’s side replied that McCain was being needlessly belligerent and dangerously quick to assess a complication foreign policy issue.

The brief flashpoint offers a preview certain to reemerge as a case study in a presidential debate.

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