The Limits of Bush Bashing

The Obama administration and its defenders have dined for quite a while on blaming the Bush administration for the sundry problems plaguing the U.S. and the world. This is not the place to parse each criticism, but I do think things like this report from the National Security Network need better context. They write:

During the eight years of the Bush administration, unnecessary saber-rattling, coupled with a refusal to talk to Iran, did nothing to make America more secure. Indeed, Iran made enormous advances both in nuclear technology and regional prestige.

It's important to recognize that there is very little chance the Obama administration is going to have any more success at convincing the Iranians to give up their nuclear program than the Bush administration did. That's not because they're not approaching the problem more constructively, but because the nature of the problem is such that it may not be amenable to "solving" at a cost that would be acceptable to most Americans.

And the irony here is that by relentlessly criticizing the Bush administration for "failing" to stop Iran's decades-old pursuit of a nuclear capability, they're just setting the Obama administration up for failure. Because what happens if the administration's diplomatic outreach fails, as it likely will given the importance the Iranian regime places in its nuclear program? Then the administration will be forced to either stand down or take military action - an outcome few of the president's backers would likely support.

It's not wise for President Obama to concede a nuclear Iran while there is still time for further diplomacy. But if the president's supporters want to change the "politics of national security" it seems to me that it would be far more productive to take this bit of advice from Richard Haass and start "defining success down." Barring some dramatic breakthrough or a military strike from Israel, Iran is going to become a nuclear power. If the administration's supporters believe containment is preferable to war, they should start saying so now.

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