It’s time to get the governor of Louisiana’s take on the turmoil in Ukraine.
In an editorial for National Review, Bobby Jindal writes that President Obama’s “weakness is pushing the United States to another generational conflict with Moscow.”
As Jindal sees it, Obama has done pretty much everything wrong since Russia sent troops to Crimea.
Obama, we’re told, “has couched his response only in terms of what the United States is doing to consult its allies.”
He uses multilateralism as “not a process but an end” and is “loath to act with certainty.”
And that “weakness,” Jindal asserts, “will prove expensive for America; it always does.”
Jindal even wonders if Obama’s “timidity” is the byproduct of “a bohemian worldview that abhors conflict.” Or maybe it stems from “a mushy optimism about a new world order ushered in by technology that adds a measure of leveling to the international playing field.”
Whatever it is, Bobby Jindal would like people to stop calling Barack Obama smart:
This president is often praised for his intelligence. The events in Crimea should spur us to revisit that notion, or at least to mark the difference between wisdom and intelligence. While the president of Russia is using military force to invade neighboring countries, our president is reducing the size of our military and boasting about the record number of Americans on food stamps. Obama conveys weakness to our allies and our enemies, but wise presidents have always understood that American weakness leads to violence, American strength to stability.
Nowhere in the 818-word column is it ever indicated how Bobby Jindal would end the crisis, but that likely wasn’t really what he had in mind when he wrote the piece.
What’s more, Jindal had nothing but praise for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and then-President George W. Bush in 2008 for their response to Russia’s aggression in Georgia.
“[McCain], as soon as this crisis emerged, in no uncertain terms said that Russia should withdraw its forces, observe a cease fire, suggested that there need to be true international peace keepers there,” Jindal said during an interview with ABC. “I think this is another example during these uncertain times where we need experienced leadership.”
He added, “I think the administration has correctly sent word to Moscow, this is not acceptable.”
This post has been updated.
