Not Convinced Neocons Were Correct

There is a new article in Foreign Policy about what the NeoCons got right. I am willing to be open minded, but this article did not convince me. The author seemed to be trying to hard to find something. Here is what the author says: "So what did the neocons get right? Syria, Iran, and democracy."

I am undecided on Syria. If the author is saying the Neocons were right not to invest any American effort in creating an agreement between Syria and Israel, then maybe I can agree with that. However, I remember the news portraying America as scuttling a potential deal between Syria and Israel. If that is the case, I do not agree.

For Iran, the author says that Neocons knew that Iran was not going to come to an agreement with us on nuclear weapons, therefore they were right not to negotiate. However, getting an agreement is not the only reason to negotiate. Democrats rightly believe that finding an agreement is worth a try (and not beneath our dignity, which the right claimed) and that by trying and failing to reach an agreement, we would get far more international support than had we not tried at all. The author seems to concede this, but yet still claims that the Neocons were right not to negotiate. I'm not sure why.

And so we come to democracy. Yes, Neocons are right that promoting democracy promotes stability. But then again, who disagrees with that? The main disagreement is how easily democracy can be imposed on a country. Neocons were wrong that Iraqis would quickly welcome democracy without any looting, insurgencies or civil war.

The other problem with the Neocons belief in democracy is that many saw this push as disingenuous. Neocons clearly try to balance their support for democracy with their more realist tendencies. Basically, Neocons, and many Democrats as well, support America-friendly dictatorships, but oppose dictatorships or less-than-ideal democracies (Iran) if they are unfriendly. So a push for democracy rings hollow when we do precious little to push countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia towards democracy or when we fail to recognize elections in Palestine that don't go how we want them to.

So to suggest that Neocons got democracy right misses the level of their support for it, and how it is actually perceived by the rest of the world. I would argue that Obama is getting democracy right. While his position on democracy and its positive benefits are the same as Bush and the Neocons, he is talking less about it and coming off less hypocritical.

I'll have to think some more about this, but as of yet, I don't find anything that the Neocons got right. Feel free to try to set me straight.