The Greek playwright Aeschylus – who fought at Marathon in 490 BC, the battle
that defeated the first Persian invasion of Greece – had few illusions about
the consequences of war. No wonder, in the tragedy Oresteia, he gave
his character Agamemnon these verses:
They sent forth men to battle.
But no such men return;
And home, to claim their welcome
Comes ashes in an urn.
His ode is one the candidates for the U.S. presidency might consider, though
one doubts that many of them would think to find wisdom in a 2,500 year-old
Greek play.
And that, in itself, is a tragedy.
Historical blindness has been much on display in the primary season. On the
Republican side, candidates promised to “kick ass” in Iraq, make
the “sand glow” in Syria, and face down the Russians in Europe.
While the Democratic aspirants were a little more measured, they generally share
the pervasive ideology that binds together all but “cranks” like
Ron Paul: America has the right, indeed the duty, to order the world’s affairs.
This peculiar view of the role of the US takes on a certain messianic quality
in candidates like Hillary Clinton, who routinely quotes former Secretary of
State Madeline Albright’s line about America as “the indispensable nation”
whose job is to lead the world.
A Failure of Imagination
At a recent rally in Indianola, Iowa, Clinton
said that “Senator [Bernie] Sanders doesn’t talk much about foreign
policy, and when he does, it raises concerns because sometimes it can sound
like he really hasn’t thought things through.”
The former secretary of state was certainly correct. Foreign policy for Sanders
is pretty much an afterthought to his signature issues of economic inequality
and a national health care system.
But the implication of her comment is that she has thought things
through. If she has, it isn’t evident in her memoir, Hard
Choices, or in her campaign speeches.