Yeah, Good Luck With That

"Ah Vir, I have heard political naivete this complete only once, from Lord Jhano in a speech he made before the Centarum. We voted to have him sterilized as a favor to future generations, then we remembered that he was married to the Lady Ahrnos so really, there was no need." - Londo Molarri, Babylon 5

Obama urges eliminating nuclear weapons

Democrat Barack Obama called for ridding the world of nuclear weapons Tuesday and offered his early opposition to the Iraq war as evidence of sound judgment that trumps his lack of Washington experience.

Obama argued that U.S. policy is still focused on the defunct Soviet Union instead of combatting the nuclear threat from rogue nations and terrorists. The United States shouldn't unilaterally disarm, he said, but it must work with other nations to phase out weapons and control atomic material.

"Here's what I'll say as president: 'America seeks a world in which there are no nuclear weapons,'" Obama said.

"The best way to keep America safe is not to threaten terrorists with nuclear weapons — it's to keep nuclear weapons and nuclear materials away from terrorists," the Illinois senator said. Aides said the process Obama envisions would take many years, not just a a single presidency.

Wow.

Just wow.

Let me spell it out to you, Barack:

IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.

Nuclear weapons are not going to go away. Ever. There are those for whom a nuclear weapon means power, influence, the ability to destroy their enemies with the push of a button. Y'see, Barack, there are bad people in the world. You can talk about "phasing out" nuclear weapons, but as long as there are maniacs like Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trying to get them it's not even a remote possibility. Since you've shown no particular inclination for using force to stop those bad people from getting their hands on nasty weapons, well, they can safely ignore you. And let's not even discuss the odds of getting Russia and China to go along with this without cheating.

So we're left with this problem:

• Obama wants to get rid of nuclear weapons, but will not disarm unless everyone disarms.
• There is absolutely no chance that everyone everyone is going to disarm.
  
• Thus, nuclear weapons are not going to go away.
  

So why waste your time even talking about it? What you're proposing, Barack, is an impossibility. It may play well to the fringe nutcases of your party, but ordinary, everyday, non-fruitcake people are going to look at you and decide that you are dangerously naive. Once again, you're making Hillary Clinton look like the most mature, realistic Democrat running for office right now.

How sad is that?

(Link via Little Green Footballs)