Historical Ignorance

Is it possible Rove actually believes that 700 bases in 130 countries really represents any form of isolationism? Has anyone heard Obama say the reason we should focus on diplomacy prior to military action as being soley a financial decision? And really does no one remember that oil was less than half of what it is today prior to the Iraqi invasion? What use is Rove as a commentator if he is completely ignorant of history and of the actual positions of the people he is commenting on?

Karl Rove to Chris Wallace on March 2nd

ROVE: Well, Obama -- it's a good argument for Obama, but I'm wondering where it goes, because it really is a very neo-isolationist argument. It basically says, you know, "We should not be involved in the world because of the consequences to the budget here at home."
Well, we were not involved in the world before 9/11, and look what happened. Look at the cost to the American economy after a terrorist attack on the homeland. We lost a million jobs in 90 days after 9/11.
If we were to give up Iraq with the third largest oil reserves in the world to the control of an Al Qaida regime or to the control of Iran, don't you think $200 a barrel oil would have a cost to the American economy?
So you know, it's a cute thing in a primary. I'm not certain over an 8-month general election that you can make the argument that we ought to take a look at every foreign policy commitment in the United States and measure it on the basis of the number of dollars that we've got there.