On Foreign Entanglements, Matt and Jamie discuss the Foreign Policy Initiative’s new poll of US opinion on foreign policy. They debate whether isolationism is still an important strain in American politics. Why was the Obama administration so slow to acknowledge the Libyan consulate murders as a terrorist attack? Were the embassy demonstrations a sign of US weakness in the Middle East? Both Matt and Jamie think supporters of Bush’s “Freedom Agenda” should’ve been prepared for Morsi’s UN speech. Finally, Matt criticizes Netanyahu’s infamous bomb chart speech, while Jamie defends an aggressive stance against Iran.
On The Posner Show, Sarah speaks with Jacques Berlinerblau about his new book, How To Be Secular, in which he says American secularism needs to “check into rehab.” Why did secularism lose steam to the Christian right, despite having been protected by the Supreme Court in the 1960s and ’70s? And what would it take for secularism to succeed today? Jacques argues that secularist leaders need to abandon strict separationism for what he calls an accommodationist approach. Is Obama’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership a good idea? Finally, Sarah and Jacques agree that God-talk on the campaign trail is here to stay.