An Overview of Democratic US Presidents' Arms Control Failures

Stephen Rademaker, a State Department official from the Bush administration, wrote an insightful piece in the Wall Street Journal last month entitled, "Why Democrats Fail at Arms Control."



Mr. Rademaker wrote a fairly long editorial filled with references to a multitude of non-proliferation and arms control treaties, e.g., CTBT, SALT, ABM, START, SORT and SALT II.



But what caught my eye was this passage,



"The principal reason that recent Democratic presidents have failed with Russia has been their excessive enthusiasm and ambition, which perversely encourages the Russians to overreach, dooming prospects for agreement. This was a problem for Messrs. Carter and Clinton. And it promises to be an even bigger problem for Mr. Obama, who comes to office with an arms-control agenda- the abolition of nuclear weapons- far more ambitious than that of any previous administration."



One of the so-called "advisers" that Wonderboy has cited, in his quest to appear bi- and post-partisan, is Republican Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana. Here's what Rademaker has to say about Lugar's views,



"Early on, Sen. Richard Lugar (R., Ind.) admonished the administration to "resist calls to load the negotiations agenda with objectives that, while desirable, would slow down the talks and threaten the tight timetable" for avoiding a lapse in arms-control verification."



So much for that adviser. Rademaker notes that our First Rookie summarily ignored Lugar's recommendations, and did exactly the opposite, attempting to install a completely new vehicle to begin ridding the world of all nuclear weapons in place of the planned, much simpler extension of verification procedures.



Mr. Rademaker goes on to note,



"Today, the administration finds itself in the unhappy position of negotiating against a firm deadline, with very ambitious objectives and a negotiating partner that does not share its political needs to reach agreement. Come December, Russia can be expected to present Mr. Obama with two choices: Sign an agreement on terms disadvantageous to the U.S. (thereby risking defeat of the treaty in the Senate), or allow the START treaty to expire with nothing to replace it."



Yet another example of why it's unwise to allow to run, be nominated and elected, a person with no substantial life experience or prior government experience at a significant level.



Being a multi-term state legislator, then serving less than two years in the US Senate, has resulted in Wonderboy being totally unfit to actually govern the United States and, thus, fulfill his oath of office. This arms control issue is a perfect illustration of how that is occurring in one crucial area after another in the nation's affairs.