Obama understands foreign policy priorities, Hillary doesn't.

Obama Has It Right On Foreign Policy

"The time for us to ask how we were going to get out of Iraq was before we went in. And that is something that too many of us failed to do". - Senator Barack Obama

Barack Obama understands that the most important job for the next President of the United States will be to restore the integrity and moral authority of the U.S. throughout the world. The Bush administration's policy of unilateralism, stonewalling, and non-engagement has made America more vulnerable and less strong.

At the now famous "YouTube Debate" on CNN, Sen. Barack Obama was asked if he would meet with leaders of nations likes Syria, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea. He said that, "we need to talk to Iran and Syria because they're going to have responsibilities if Iraq collapses."

Obama knows that you can't make peace with your friends, that you must make peace with your enemies.

Sen. Hillary Clinton called Obama "naive" for holding this belief. She said that it would be unwise to engage our enemies about the potential consequences of a failed state in Iraq.

Bill Clinton engaged with North Korea, and though the Bush administration initially abandoned this policy, they have since returned to it. Apparently they found that their policy of pretending that North Korea didn't exist was not effective at stymieing weapons proliferation in the region.

Richard Nixon, who was a skilled diplomat engaged Communist China, which led to a normalization of relations between that country and the U.S.

Both Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy engaged the Soviet Union during the cold war. This was important during Kennedy's time because it helped him navigate through the Cuban Missile Crisis without a nuclear exchange that would have destroyed both our countries. Reagan's engagement of the Soviet Union helped to end the Cold War.

The Bush policy of unilateralism and non-engagement is a radical fringe idea that has failed to unite the civilized world against America's enemies. It is worrisome that Sen. Clinton, the current frontrunner for the White House is embracing these policies.

This isn't the only foreign policy difference between the two candidates. Hillary Clinton supported George Bush's sloppy crusade in Iraq, Obama didn't.

On the same day that Sen. Clinton was voting to support President Bush, Barack Obama gave a speech in Chicago where he said,

"That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics".

He added, ". . .even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda."

Obama made this speech on October 22, 2002, six months before the U.S. invasion. Looking back, he sounds less like an experienced statesman, but more like a prophet.

The judgement and wisdom of Sen. Barack Obama is far stronger than the so called experience of Sen. Clinton, and on this basis alone he should have our support.

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