On the heels of waxing eloquent about the need to bug out of Iraq, Obama says:
Change is realizing that meeting today’s threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy — tough, direct diplomacy where the president of the United States isn’t afraid to let any petty dictator know where America stands and what we stand for. We must once again have the courage and conviction to lead the free world. That is the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy. That’s what the American people want. That’s what change is.
Leaving aside Obama’s egregious distortion of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy’s foreign policies, the notion that the obstacle to cure-all “diplomacy” is that the Bush administration is “afraid” to tell “petty dictators” where America stands is just plain stupid and dishonest.