Bad policy? We need to look closely at Bowe Bergdahl decision

Let's hope it is just another chapter in what has become an unfortunate string of miscues when it comes to foreign policy.

Let's hope that someone's heart got in the way of their head -- or that a low-level adviser did not do his homework.

Because if this was anything else, the Bowe Bergdahl case should indicate just how lost the American political system in general and the Obama administration in specific really are.

What is making so many so mad is not really just that Bergdahl is suspected of being a deserter -- no one has proven that, although his colleagues who served with him seem pretty sure.

What is distressing is that we exchanged five top-level Taliban operatives for his release.

First, we don't negotiate with terrorists. Second, men died catching those high-level targets for a reason: They are dangerous. And last but not least, this smells bad.

And that is where we hope that this was just poor timing and more bad decision-making.

It has not been an easy couple of months for the Obama administration. First there was Benghazi and the non-existent "protest." And now, officials face the increasingly appalling Veterans Affairs scandal and the revelation that lists were being forged as veterans waited for care.

Bad days. Bad karma and, more importantly, bad publicity, in advance of a mid-term election that will center on a couple of other bits of bad news -- health care and the IRS and NSA scandals.

Let's hope this was not a rush job to get some good news out there -- a perhaps well-intentioned mission that was timed for political gain.

Because if it was, the American party system just might be lost forever, and it might be time to simply start over.

Published in Editorials on June 3, 2014 11:10 AM