John Tierney: “This administration, as I started off by saying, has a ready, shoot, in-their-name approach to this whole policy. This…”

“This administration, as I started off by saying, has a ready, shoot, in-their-name approach to this whole policy. This is much like what has been going on with a number of the policies of this administration. They have unilaterally claimed that the Kyoto Protocol was dead. They have started to retract on that and are now talking about limitations on carbon dioxide and talking about cooperating with our international friends. They have asserted that a pull-out of forces from the Balkans was imminent and now they are talking about cooperating and being sure that they do not pull out unilaterally. They have talked about an express intent not to engage in the Middle East but reality has struck there and they have not only one envoy by two over there. They have talked about halting diplomatic initiatives in North Korea and now, in fact, they are starting to engage, or at least in all of these respects they are using semantics in talking about that. I hope they are being truthful in their attempt to move forward in that regard, although I fear that they may be just sort of smoothing and massaging what is going on while the President is abroad.”