Obama’s response to Russian invasion not that different from Bush’s
(CNN) – Russia's invasion of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula echoes the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008.
The situations were different in many ways of course – Vladimir Putin was prime minister of Russia then, not president, though he was widely regarded to have been calling the shots. But in both cases, Russia sent troops into another sovereign country, a former Soviet Socialist Republic, upsetting an American president who had tried to improve relations
This week Republicans slammed President Barack Obama's response to the crisis.
"I've always believed that this administration was incredible naive about Putin," said Sen. John McCain.
"Our lack of a concise and clear foreign policy has destabilized parts of the world," said former Sen. Jim DeMint.
"We have a weak and indecisive president that invites aggression," said Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Obama and former President George W. Bush are quite different, but it turns out, looking back to 2008, their responses to Russia's belligerence are not that unique.
"John Kerry is going to be traveling to Kiev to indicate our support for the Ukrainian people," Obama said this week.
"Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is in Tbilisi, she's conferring with (then-Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili, and is expressing America's wholehearted support for Georgia's democracy," Bush said then.
Obama now: "The steps Russia has taken is a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty, Ukraine's territorial integrity."
Bush then (August 16, 2008): "We will continue to insist that Georgia's sovereignty, and independence, and territorial integrity be respected."
Back then, conservatives largely excused Bush.
"Obviously it's beyond our control," Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Fox in 2008. "The Russians are advancing. There is nothing that will stop them. We are not going to go to war over Georgia." ...
