Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour

Back in the day there was a radio program called “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour” … kind of like these new televised talent-search programs such as Star Search, American Idol and America's Got Talent. … only not so contrived.  Back then, there were true amateurs striving for their big break … and a few actually got one … such as Gladys Knight, Ann Margaret and Pat Boone.

Of late I can think of no better analog to the U.S. foreign policy than another “amateur hour.” We appear fumbling and directionless. Russia’s Putin is running circles around our hapless State Department and our feckless Secretary of State, John Kerry. We are sending oodles of mixed signals as to how we plan to deal with the world’s crises … the Israeli/Palestinian [lack of] peace process, the threat of an Ukrainian invasion by Russia, China’s expansionist designs, and our finger-in-the-wind dealings with Syria and Iran. It honestly appears that we are making things up as we go along.

I wish that President Obama’s Teleprompter could, for once, tell the world, in just a few clear sentences, what exactly our foreign policy is. Can the evil-doers of the world have their way with us without any real consequences? Are there limits to our possible responses to the mischief these bad actors are engaged in? Are we at all interested in improving circumstances around the world? Does our nuclear deterrent mean anything anymore? Why are we so hell-bent on leading from [our] behind?

Perhaps we might call our current foreign policy “lazy fare?” And just where are the grown-ups, such as Dick Cheney and Jim Baker, now that we really need them?