STeve Clemons, 3-31:

"McCain's comments on the Iraq War and the inevitability of more wars in the region has been reckless.

And the notion that McCain can maintain these wars and the huge military expenditures that we have today without raising taxes is also folly. Nixon Center President Dimitri Simes makes this point today in an interesting piece by Eli Lake about Republicans turning towards Obama.

We should all worry about future presidents who have forgotten John Quincy Adams' admonition that America should not go out to "seek monsters to destroy."

The sick reality is that there are too many presidents who seek such monsters as ways to define themselves and their tenures -- and as a way to generate "legacy."

Despite Loconte's effort to suggest that McCain has some realism in him, McCain appears like a dragon-chaser. Hillary Clinton too frequently comes off as someone who might define her presidency through conflict. Her commitment to "coercive diplomacy" has the ring of a dragon-chasing president.

And Barack Obama, while less committed to this path than the other presidential options, may take it anyway as he "reacts" to a world testing his resolve and kicking the tires of hope rather than realism in international affairs.

-- Steve Clemons"


A sentiment I am inclined to agree with.