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David Brooks Applies for Thune Campaign Manager Gig
Travis | Nov 13, 2009 |
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Yes, David, you have to submit a resume just like everyone else
This is one hell of a cover letter. My favorite reaction came from the Moderate Voice:
[Thune’s] tall and nice, plays basketball, but is only a junior senator and he has no business or administrative experience. How could anyone vote for him? Seriously, Gov. Pawlenty of Minn. is a better choice.
Yeah, who the hell would vote for that kind of guy?
By omitting a characterization of Senator Thune’s national security positions, Brooks’s column ignores one leg of the ideological stool (i.e. social + economic + foreign policy). Such a characterization would inevitably touch on nuclear weapons issues, a central concern for Thune and an area where he defines himself in opposition to President Obama...
Thune’s home state of South Dakota contains Ellsworth Air Force Base, which hosts a wing of B-1 bombers. Since the conversion of B-1s from nuclear to conventional roles was completed in 1997 (the aircraft still count against START I limits), lawmakers like Thune have fought both to preserve the existing B-1 fleet and to accelerate development of the next generation nuclear-capable bomber.
These objectives, so crucial to South Dakotans, have already brought Thune into conflict with the Obama administration’s arms control agenda. As Thune remarked in July, "I have an additional concern that by significantly reducing our strategic delivery vehicles, we may lose the bomber leg of our nuclear triad." Earlier this year, he introduced a bill declaring that it is U.S. policy:
…not to delay the next generation bomber development program by deliberations on the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, deliberations on the Nuclear Posture Review, or negotiations over the follow-on Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
In other words, he doesn’t want U.S. global security strategy or international treaty obligations to interfere with procurement of his pet project. This is the type of platform-centric approach Secretary Gates warned against earlier this year in Foreign Affairs: “The key is to make sure that the strategy and risk assessment drive the procurement, rather than the other way around.”
Also, remember the Senate Republican Policy Committee report that, according to Kingston, purposefully misconstrued the Strategic Posture Commission’s findings? That was Thune’s handiwork, too.
Like Sarah Palin’s attacks on Obama’s missile defense budget, it makes sense for aspiring presidential candidates to couch barbs meant for national consumption in the guise of simple home state advocacy. If Thune decides to take the presidential plunge and starts carving out a larger public profile on national security, he is likely to focus on issues that have resonance both nationwide and in South Dakota - and nuclear weapons policy and the next generation bomber sit near the top of that list.
Nukes on a Blog, Senate, Posture Review (all tags)
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