Obama has to be hacked. He was just trying to take a little time off and the freakin' Russians decide to remind us we live in dangerous times. Can we invade our neighbors? Yes, we can!
While McCain sounded more presidential than either Obama or President Bush, what we can actually do is limited. Reading the Responsible Side of the Blogosphere, there seems to be a few thoughts:
Glenn Reynolds is realistic in acknowledging there is nothing much we can do, but he is wrong on preventative measures.
Jerry Pournelle is relieved that Georgia was not in NATO, while John Noonan at the Weekly Standard sees NATO membership as a deterrent.
A few points: no there is nothing we can do. Strongly worded statements run the risk of making us look stupid. Whatever we say needs to communicate something to the Polands and Latvias of the world. Max Boot also suggested shipping Stingers and Javelins to the Georgians, but that, I think, just provokes Russia to reciprocate with the Iranians or Al Qaeda elements in Iraq.
That said, I think we can ship Stingers and Javelins to our allies as a deterrent. Poland, the Baltic States, Georgia (once things settle down) all could buy these from us to discourage future adventures.
As for NATO, it is useless. I am not a huge fan of entangling alliances (see Pournelle above), but I do think there is a place for a League of Free Democracies. The trouble with Georgia is that they can act more recklessly if they "know" NATO Is behind them. Not that they would, but we need a level of trust that I am not sure is or was there.
As for military alliances, I would ask the question: who would we go to war for if that country was invaded? Canada? Australia? Great Britain? Japan? Beyond that...Mexico? France? Taiwan? South Korea?
I hate to think we may be forced to chose.
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