Kaptur The KORUS

The supply to the United States of which good or service, exactly, does Obama now propose to make dependent upon South Korea, a country which he might have noticed has recently been in the news? How is this proposal anything less than a breach of his Oath of Office? As a Senator, both he and Hillary Clinton opposed it when it was made by George Bush, she despite the fact that it was exactly the sort of thing that her husband used to do. But then, New START is exactly the sort of thing that Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan used to do.

Is this to be Obama's legacy, New START lost but KORUS FTA ratified? The case for a serious primary challenge is now unanswerable. Marcy Kaptur never endorsed either Clinton or Obama, because neither was sufficiently opposed to the "free" trade that had devastated, and was continuing to devastate, her District. A pro-life woman seeking the Democratic nomination has happened before. But never on a full platform of policies. And certainly never from the populist, anti-war Left. What would it take to persuade her to run?

For that matter, what would the Old Right say, faced with a pro-life, anti-war, anti-NAFTA, anti-KORUS supporter of traditional marriage who also happened to be a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus? After all, Pat Buchanan and Paul Craig Roberts served under Reagan, a service involving no less compromise, within the context of not commenting outside one's sphere of responsibility, than would be entailed by service under such a Democrat. No Republican nominee is ever going to make them any sort of offer, but what if that Democrat offered, say, Deputy Attorney General to Andrew Napolitano in order to help repeal Bush's assaults on constitutional liberty, Deputy National Security Advisor to Philip Giraldi, and a comparable position of his own choosing to Buchanan?

Plus others to figures from that same constituency, thus covering the full shared agenda of fair trade, repealing much or all of the USA Patriot Act, ending completely the neoconservative war agenda, strict campaign finance reform, a crackdown against corporate influence generally and corporate welfare in particular, tax cuts for the poor and the middle class, halting and reversing the national emergency of unrestricted and illegal immigration, and making English the only official language of the United States. Made such an offer by such a candidate, what would the paleocons say, and why? After all, they managed to serve under Reagan.