Baker's Not The Best Surrogate For McCain's View

Who's appeasing who?

News broke that Israel, through Turkey, was negotiating a comprehensive peace agreement with Syria; a typical response to charges that Barack Obama wants to appease Iran is that, well, Ronald Reagan authorized talks with Iranians; that Oliver North traded arms-for-freaking-hostages, that Reagan summitted with Gorbachev; that the history of progress in international relations is explained more by the advent of mutual, tough diplomacy than by anything else, including military force. Some of these comparisons stretch the historical record. Mr. Reagan did not negotiate with Ayatollah Khomeini; when President Bush reached out to Libya, it was only after the country began to dismantle its nuclear capacity. In the instance of the latter, a precondition was set, and it was met. But James Baker isn't the best surrogate for John McCain's positions.

In today's Washington Post, former Secretary of State Jim Baker is quoted as saying, "You don't just talk to your friends; you talk to your enemies, as well. You don't reward your enemies necessarily by talking to them if you are tough and you know what you are doing. You don't appease them. Talking to an enemy is not, in my view, appeasement."

More, from the Post:

When asked about Baker's comments, McCain said that as secretary of state, Baker talked only with adversaries who seemed open to changing their tactics. "When Secretary Baker was secretary of state, they didn't talk to Castro. They had a very strict position on whether to negotiate with him or not," McCain said.

On Castro, that's true. But Baker, as a member of the Iraq Study Group, advocated robust regional diplomacy to solve the problems created by the war in Iraq. While Secretary of State, he routinely talked to his counterparts in Syria and Iraq. Without preconditions.

As the Post reported,

"Baker noted that when he was secretary of state for President Bush's father, he made 15 trips to Syria in 1990 and 1991, "at the time when Syria was on the list of countries who were state sponsors of terrorism. On the 16th trip, guess what, lo and behold, Syria changed 25 years of policy and agreed for the first time in the history to sit at the table with Israel, which is what Israel wanted at the time."

A brief Google search provides other examples. Right before the first Gulf War began, Baker indicated his willingness for a face-to-face chat with Saddam Hussein. At a press conference to discuss the Iraq Study Group's report, Baker said, twice, "You talk to your enemies, not just your friends."

Baker might well favor McCain's election, but it's hard to read his words and conclude that he would oppose Obama's efforts at diplomacy.