More on Obama and Pakistan

San from Shadow Warrior wonders about differing treatment between Obama and Clinton regarding Pakistan and Iraq.

I believe the problem with Pakistan is that no matter what we do (we being the US, the West and every non Pakistani) is that it will be the "wrong" answer. It seems at times the outrage industry is the main industry in that country. If I wanted to find a Pakistani flag, it would take some time. Yet, there are always American flags to burn there. And not just US flags -- when the Danish cartoon crisis hit, there were demonstrations burning Danish flags.

But I do not think Obama's comments help matters. My concern about Obama goes back to the 2004 Senate race when he was talking about "surgical strikes" -- there is no such thing. I do think he is a bit too naive for the presidency. Also, with respect to Pakistan, I do worry about the inflaming Islamist opinion. I do not think that Pakistan is about to turn Islamist -- in the last election, the Islamists did not do all that well. And it is a country that in the 1980s freely elected a woman to be Prime Minister.

So in short, I have no idea really what to do about Pakistan. But threatening to launch attacks there is probably not a good idea. However, Obama is not a pacifist and it is good to remember that.