You are president and confronted with a situation which tests your basic philosophy about diplomatic negotiation, your philosophy can be described as:
A. Talk with friends and ignore enemies.
B. Talk to friends and enemies.
This is the simplistic depiction of how diplomatic negotiation has been presented during the election and we can all acknowledge that reality is much more complex. The Progress Report blog offered a post today that examines the issue and explains why the Bush Administration has both vilified negotiating with enemies while pragmatically doing just that. I suspect that a McCain Administration would continue that tradition, while an Obama Administration would dispense entirely with the notion that enemies are not worthy of direct negotiation. The voters will soon decide which approach best reflects the American temperament.
