Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is gearing up for a presidential run and Barack Obama isn’t. That’s perhaps one reason why Paul’s latest editorial for the Wall Street Journal quietly praises Obama’s judgment, even as he claims that US policy is “flailing about” in the Middle East and that it’s “unhinged.”
What does Rand Paul praise Obama for? Simple: for not listening to his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton recently indicated that Obama could have acted more decisively in arming Syrian rebels, with the goal of bringing about “regime change” in Syria. But in Paul’s editorial the senator writes that as a country “We are lucky Mrs. Clinton didn’t get her way and the Obama administration did not bring about regime change in Syria. That new regime might well be ISIS.” Unlike Obama, Clinton is likely a candidate for the presidency in 2016. And in criticizing her, Senator Paul found himself in the unusual position of praising Barack Obama’s judgment.