The Return of Real Politick?
Watching the Bush administration over the last few weeks, I have to say that I have been fairly pleased with their foreign policy activities. I like the approach they are taking on North Korea. I think their approach to Israel is being largely vindicated (even if a third intafada breaks out, I don’t think it will reflect badly on the administration’s approach). I even think they are handling Iran about as well as it could be handled. We can’t ignore the problem, on the other hand, there isn’t much we can do other than act tough, playing bad cop to Europe’s good cop.


The Condi trip to Europe followed very quickly by the Bush trip was very well orchestrated. In his approach to Putin, Bush gave some depth to how it might be possible to live up to the words of his inauguration speech without starting wars all over the world. All in all, from my perspective, a pretty good start for the second term following a disastrous first term.

Then again, maybe it just feels right to me because it’s a return to real politick. At Bard college, years ago, I studied under the James Chace, a former master practitioner of the art of real politick who became, in his later years, one of its foremost historians and analysts. Chace was all about the mid-century diplomats who made the best they could out of the two-power world, given the fact that the other power was basically the biggest rogue state of all time.

The neo-cons cheered when Reagan broke ranks with the practitioners of real politick and waged what amounted to open verbal warfare against the Russians. History now shines favorably on Reagan’s approach, while most of the old real politickers are disappearing into the fog of the past. Today, I wonder how the neo-cons feel about Bush’s recent return to the old style of international diplomacy. Some of them, no doubt, blame the failure of real politick in the post cold war era for the birth of the modern terror movement, and they are probably right to some degree.

Still, there is something very comforting about seeing adults acting like adults, and to a large degree, that is what real politick really was. Its about smiling across the dinner table over thanksgiving even though you really hate your families guts. Will it work in the war on terror? Only time will tell.

- posted by Simon Marcus @ Friday, February 25, 2005