Having a tough time understanding Obama’s nuke strategy

I wasn’t going to write about President Obama’s new nuclear weapons strategy–a central tenet of which is that the U.S. would not authorize a nuclear strike against a nonnuclear country in retaliation for a chemical or biological attack if that country is in compliance with its nonproliferation obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Then, on Friday, April 9, I listened to Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn tell Laura Ingraham, sitting in for Bill O’Reilly on the Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor, that people like Sarah Palin who oppose the president’s new strategy (principally conservatives) aren’t smart enough to understand it.

Quinn’s comments, by themselves, are just one woman’s opinion. Her comments, however, should be taken in the context of criticism by the liberal elite–of which she is a card-carrying member–of those that oppose Obama’s nuclear weapons strategy, Obamacare, cap-and-trade, and other Obama administration liberal initiatives. They reflect the prevailing political strategy of the left to denigrate Sarah Palin’s intelligence and the intellect of conservatives in general in order to undercut their criticisms.

Quinn wasn’t on the program to discuss nuclear weapons strategy. The topic came up because Ingraham asked Quinn to react to the Sarah Palin-Barack Obama war of words over the issue that was widely reported in the media.

Palin had told Sean Hannity, “It’s kinda like getting out there on a playground, a bunch of kids, getting ready to fight, and one of the kids saying, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face and I’m not going to retaliate. Go ahead and do what you want to with me.’”

President Obama responded to a question from George Stephanopolous about Palin’s comment, saying “I really have no response, because last I checked, Sarah Palin’s not much of an expert on nuclear issues.”

Palin shot back in her speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, with “The President, with all the vast nuclear experience that he acquired as a community organizer, and as a part time senator, and as a full time candidate–all that experience, still no accomplishment to date with North Korea and Iran.”

Ingraham simply wanted to know if Quinn thought Obama’s comments were “presidential” and if was wise for him bristle so easily at Palin’s comments. Quinn, however, took the opportunity to make fun of Palin’s pronunciation of “nuclear” and suggest that nuclear strategy was a very “sophisticated” and “complex” issue that was over Palin’s head.

Ingraham cited conservatives like former UN Ambassador John Bolton, columnist Charles Krauthammer, and all the opinion polls that agree with Palin on the nuclear strategy issue. Quinn’s retort was “they just don’t understand it.” It’s a statement made frequently by the left about issues conservatives oppose, like we heard during the Obamacare debate.

As with Obamacare, there are indeed many technical aspects of nuclear weapons–how they’re managed, what they cost, and how many different varities there are–that are complex and not well understood by most Americans.

What is not complex or difficult to understand about Obamacare is that it will greatly expand the federal government bureaucracy and raise people’s taxes. And, over time, as fewer doctors are available to care for millions of new patients, it will result in the rationing of healthcare.