A lecturer on politics spoke at the University of Northern Iowa last night (Tuesday) as something of an alternative to watching the President’s State of the Union address. John Mueller, a political science professor at Ohio State University, made comparisons between past wars, like Vietnam, and the current war in Iraq.
Mueller says he’s seeing signs a growing number of Americans support a foreign policy of isolationism. He says more people are saying we shouldn’t be so involved or engaged internationally and should just “mind our own business” and settle our own problems at home.
Mueller says President Bush has apparently seen the same signs because he said during his State of the Union address he rejects isolationism and America must lead democratic reform worldwide.
Mueller says President Bush is fostering a depth of partisanship America has rarely seen before. He says “We’ve never had in history, at least in the last 50 years, such a divisive president, which again is about 90-percent of the Republicans love him and about seven-percent of the Democrats…approve of his job in office. You have almost total loyalty among Republicans and almost total disloyalty among Democrats.” Mueller’s book is called “The Remnants of War; Peace, Prosperity and Politics.”