Obama and Change

Possibly my position on Obama is obvious because of my not having discussed the Democratic Presidential candidate at any length, if at all. My opinion that Obama will change nothing substantial when it comes to American foreign policy might, therefore, be indicated by my silence on his campaign and, yes, that is my opinion. If we are looking for any real evidence of this we should look past his grandioise speech of a couple of nights ago and go back to his speech in front of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on June 4th when he said, ""....and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security."1 Moreover, in the same speech, he himself more or less says that here at least there can be no dissession when it comes to support for Israel for he continues; "That is a commitment that both John McCain and I share, because support for Israel in this country goes beyond party."2 When it comes to American foreign policy there are certain areas where the "change" that Obama is screaming about won't and cannot happen. There are just certain things that cannot change and while he might bring a more conciliatory tone and a less obvious "gung ho" attitude to his office at the end of the day the United States is not going to pack up its bags and walk away from Central Asia, it is not going to leave Afghanistan and, although Obama is making noises to the contrary, there will be a continued presence in Iraq for some time. In short, the geopolitical interests of America dictate that no real change is possible and with Iran, Georgia and the Ukraine all potential areas of conflict Mr Obama might, indeed, be the American Commander in Chief during a conflict the likes of which we haven't seen since 1945.
1 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432
2 ibid