The CNN Effect?

After reading reports about the US readying military options against Libya, Paul Miller tells Obama to chill:

The administration looks to me like it is being driven by the CNN effect. Libya is in the headlines, dramatic events are afoot, so the administration believes it must do something, it must act, probably to demonstrate resolve, or exercise leadership. It isn't leadership to let the media drive your foreign policy. If the exact same thing were happening right now in Equatorial Guinea, no one would care and we would not be contemplating a no-fly zone.

My immediate thought was not Equatorial Guinea but the Congo. But I'm with Bob Gates on this and so relieved he remains SecDef.

(Hat tip: Compass)

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