It never hurts to talk

Much has been made of Obama’s position in the most recent debate that the United States should talk to nations with which we do not have good relations. It prompted Hillary to accuse him of being naïve. She subscribes to the school of thought arguing that talking with rogue nations is rewarding bad behavior. That attitude makes no sense to me.

Look, we made it through the Cold War, in large part, by having frequent, high profile summits with the leaders of the Soviet Union. I fail to see why we should discard this successful strategy now. So what if the US President has a sit down with the leaders of Iran or Cuba. Meeting with the US President should not be akin to having an audience with the Pope.

Obama scores big points from me for his willingness to meet with people we may not like. As the saying goes, as long as you are talking, you are not shooting. We will need that sort of leadership if we are to fix the problems wrought by Bush’s mismanagement.