Call me idealistic, but I thought the midterm elections could have been an opportunity for a serious debate about the aims and goals of U.S. foreign policy. Sure, the results matter for who gets to call hearings, fill staff positions, oversee budgets, influence presidential appointments and claim a greater share of the attention of the media and lobbyists; the elections also matter for various politicians eyeing a 2008 presidential bid. They even may prove quite useful for rewriting recent history about the essentially bi-partisan consensus that undergirded Iraq policy-one could say that George W. Bush built on the foundation Bill Clinton laid-even if, in fairness, Democrats might have chosen a somewhat different architecture. And even with regard to Iraq, there is less debate than meets the eye; with the exception of the few calling for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal or the partition of Iraq, most Democratic proposals seem like kinder, gentler versions of what the president is advocating. I am not sure precisely how a phased withdrawal differs from "when Iraqis stand up, we stand down."
What we have is a pseudo-debate on foreign policy. Even by the standards of past U.S. elections-and our campaigns have often been characterized by sloganeering rather than sober analysis (remember the "missile gap"?)-the absence of a serious national conversation is striking.
