By Steve Clemons

This piece originally ran in The Diplomat on 22 July, 2010. BEIJING’S FRAGILE SWAGGER Confucius said ‘The superior man is firm in the right way, and not merely firm.

In September 2007, before the release of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, I wrote an article for Salon titled “Why Bush Won’t Bomb Iran.” At the time, the belief that George Bush and Dick Cheney would take military action against Iran was palpable.

(Commemorative Plaque of Dwight Eisenhower opening NBC Studios at 4000 Nebraska Avenue, NW on May 22, 1958; photo credit: Steve Clemons) With the benefit of time, it’s increasingly clear that Dwight Eisenhower was one of America’s greatest Presidents.

President Barack Obama chats with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the start of a dinner at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 28, 2010.

This was tougher to get than it should have been. I hope the unemployed who are victims of the financial shenanigans of Wall Street realize who delivered on this package of benefits — and who tried to block it.

This kind of story needs to be getting less frequent — not more prevalent. Easy killing of unarmed people will undermine Israel, and it must turn this around. Israel sets the temperature in its region. Israel is a superpower — and is over-reacting to rock-throwing Palestinians.

Financial reform legislation has been signed by President Obama — and whether some critics want to accept it or not, this is another huge success for the administration.

In Beijing, where I am now, it is 94 degrees and super humid — and I know we just won’t have the smack of thunder and rain to break the mood like DC just had.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has backed up and apologized to the recently resigned/fired USDA Georgia Rural Development Director Shirley Sherrod. And he’s offered her a new job, in his words “a unique opportunity” — the outlines of which have not yet been made public.

I am a believer in strong relations with Great Britain — which has been a key ally and partner of the US for many decades and with which America has deep historical and cultural connections.