This great article by Spencer Ackerman has been up on the American Prospect site for a week or so now, but I just read it last night in the print addition. Ackerman takes an in-depth look at Barack Obama's team of foreign policy advisers and their views. Obama has some great names (or in the case of Samantha Powers, has had) including Susan Rice, Tony Lake, Ben Rhodes, Sarah Sewall, and Gen. Scott Gration. Rice and Lake are veterans of the Clinton administration, Rhodes advised Lee Hamilton, Sewall is a human rights activist and counterinsurgency authority, and Gration is a retired Air Force General and Iraq War veteran. The focus of Ackerman's article is the revelation that this team of advisers represents a coherent visioin of American foreign policy that is a significant departure from the CW of the past 30 years. In other words, Obama came along and realized the ship was sinking and instead of repairing the ship, he built a new one. This group of advisers advocates the promotion of basic human dignity over democracy. They argue that democracy is meaningless if you can not live with dignity. In order for one to live with dignity they need to be well fed, have access to quality and affordable health care, have a plentiful supply of safe drinking water, etc. If the United States can provide a leadership role in alleviating the suffering of those in the developing world (particularly the Middle East and Africa) it will go a long way towards removing the conditions that al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups thrive on when seeking new recruits. I've already said too much about the article, read it for yourself, I assure you that you will come away impressed!
