Sheldon Richman on the Foreign Policy Hubris of Romney and Obama

Mitt Romney, whose bid to unseat Barack Obama looks more desperate every day, senses he's found a weakness in his rival. In a foreign-policy speech the other day, he blasted Obama over the upheaval in the Arab world, saying, "This is a time for a president who will shape events in the Middle East." Romney is making two claims: that Obama has failed to shape events in the Middle East and that he, Romney, will succeed. Could the hubris of a man seeking power be plainer? Does anyone with even a minimum ability to think clearly believe that Romney could "shape events" there?

It is no surprise that power attracts the sort of unsavory people who see themselves as qualified to wield it, writes Sheldon Richman. In a different context Adam Smith wrote that power "would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it. "