Usually, the Wall Street Journal does a pretty good job of keeping its opinions to the op-ed pages and specialty columns, leaving the rest of the paper for a relatively neutral tone. That has me hopeful that an article that appeared on today’s front page might actually be reality, rather than administration spin:
In the past year, the ranks of the neoconservatives within the administration who molded the American response to 9/11 have grown thin and their influence has ebbed. At the same time, a band of “neorealists” has been gaining power. They share the neoconservatives’ belief in the importance of spreading democracy, but not their conviction that Washington can go it alone on the international stage. The neorealists favor working more closely with allies and with the United Nations, particularly in responding to Iran’s nuclear program.
The change coincides with the growing influence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is putting her stamp on foreign policy in the second term much as neoconservatives did in the first term. The slow progress of the war in Iraq has made it harder for the U.S. to execute a hard-line foreign policy and has undercut the arguments of the war’s chief advocates, such as Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose views often dovetailed with the neoconservatives, current and former government officials say.[...]
The foreign-policy shift is occurring, in part, because Ms. Rice is a more effective bureaucratic infighter than was her predecessor, Colin Powell. Her relationship with the president dates back to the early days of the 2000 presidential campaign. She has taken to the State Department an influence over foreign policy she built when working in the White House during the first term.
Mr. Bush has chosen to allow Ms. Rice to pursue a more multilateral foreign policy than he allowed Mr. Powell. During his first term and his re-election campaign, Mr. Bush openly snubbed European allies over Iraq, and said he didn’t do “nuance.” In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, he said: “You can have more than one leader on an issue” in dealing with Iran, citing Britain, Germany and France. “This is a multilateral effort,” he said. “My view of diplomacy is that it’s in constant motion, and we’re constantly strategizing and dealing with the latest nuance.”
Comparing how the White House has been dealing with Iran versus its behavior towards Iraq a few years ago…I’d like to believe that this article is correct. While it wouldn’t correct every issue I have with the administration, any shift from extremism towards realism would be most welcome.