McCain And Spain

The blogosphere was alive last night, confused about what John McCain meant by saying that he wouldn't meet with the Spanish Prime Minister. Today, his campaign attempted to clear the confusion by confirming that McCain was not committing to meeting with Prime Minister Zapatero. There is no doubt now that McCain was not confused about who he was talking about but was indicating that he would continue cool relations with Spain that the US has had since Zapatero came to power in 2004 and removed Spanish troops from Iraq. This contradicts an earlier pledge to normalize relations with the NATO ally:

"I would like for [President Zapatero] to visit the United States. I am very interested not only in normalizing relations with Spain but in obtaining good and productive relations with the goal of addressing many issues and challenges that we have to confront together."

This adds to a number of foreign policy inconsistencies and gaffes that McCain has made. Perhaps this isn't quite a gaffe, but it's certainly bad policy. Spain is a NATO ally and the 8th largest economy in the world. Sure, Zapatero is a left to center leader, but it would give us more credibility if we associated with democracies that have different beliefs than us, especially if our Grand Strategy is spreading democracy across the globe (though it's probably safe to say that there is no Grand Strategy.) And since Spain is still fighting with us in Afghanistan, and that's where Osama is, and McCain is committed to following Osama to the gates of hell, it would probably be wise to talk to an ally without preconditions. McCain couldn't have forgotten that al Qaeda is responsible for a major terrorist attack in Madrid, in name if not in personnel. This makes it appear as though the only thing that McCain is actually willing to committ to is winning the White House. I don't think that qualifies as putting your country first.