The GOP and Foreign Policy
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
Nov 23, 2011 at 4:31am
The most important thing is the dog that didn't bark. Undiscussed: The Eurozone collapse. Iraq. North Korea. Taiwan. Russia. Human rights, anywhere. Africa became a "country on the brink."
All of the candidates seemed positively eager to depart from foreign policy as quickly as possible and spend as much of their time as they could talking about domestic policy.
Winner: Obama. He at least has had recent experience of implementing the policy of leading from behind.
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Jan '11
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
I agree; that was disappointing. But I wonder whether that's inevitable. Foreign policy is much more anchored to details about each unique country. Details, and debate about details, always takes time. Is a CNN debate a good place for that? Probably not.
The debate was guided by the questions, and the questions were more philosophical than detail-oriented. Paul Wolfowitz's question about the utility of foreign aid was about as generic as you could get.
They didn't get into the details, but is it because they don't know them, or was the debate setting just inappropriate? I feel confident that Newt could rattle off some details, but that's because he can rattle off details in his sleep ... whether they're accurate, well, hey, they always sound impressive.
Mar '11
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
Washington's only foreign affairs experience before his election was to surrender Fort Necessity to the French, which gave the French both the fort and a propaganda victory over Washington's "confession" to the "assassination" of Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville. The next five presidents had either been emissaries, ambassadors, Secretary of State, or some combination thereof. Andy Jackson broke the string, and his foreign policy consisted largely of 1) hate the Brits, 2) leave us alone, and 3) hate the Brits some more.
This is the field that is toughest to get experience in, and it isn't really a surprise that the candidates would try to get things back to areas where they might actually have some experience.
I am surprised though, that Europe never came up. I have no idea what we should do, and I haven't heard anyone else have an idea either.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Dec '10
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: The most important thing is the dog that didn't bark. Undiscussed: The Eurozone collapse. Iraq. North Korea. Taiwan. Russia. Human rights, anywhere. Africa became a "country on the brink."
...·
Who said that? Tell me it wasn't Romney.
As for the Eurozone collapse, if you haven't already, I'm begging you to read Niall Ferguson. He has another scenario in mind and it is especially brilliant, even for Niall Ferguson.
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
Western Chauvinist
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: The most important thing is the dog that didn't bark. Undiscussed: The Eurozone collapse. Iraq. North Korea. Taiwan. Russia. Human rights, anywhere. Africa became a "country on the brink."
...·
Who said that? Tell me it wasn't Romney.
Santorum. Ron Paul had the Ottoman Empire collapsing in 1919.
Oct '10
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
The line that I'm absolutely positively irrevocably sick of is "We need to stop nation building abroad when we have to do nation building at home." No. We. Do. Not.
We have a perfectly fine nation who was crafted by people infinitely smarter and wiser than anyone who would utter this nonsensical phrase. It's already built. What we need is a political class that stops trying to degrade it by expanding the administrative state to the point where we are no longer a free people.
Oct '10
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Western Chauvinist
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: The most important thing is the dog that didn't bark. Undiscussed: The Eurozone collapse. Iraq. North Korea. Taiwan. Russia. Human rights, anywhere. Africa became a "country on the brink."
...·
Who said that? Tell me it wasn't Romney.
Santorum. Ron Paul had the Ottoman Empire collapsing in 1919. · Nov 23 at 5:38am
Did Ron Paul blame the United States Federal Reserve Bank for its collapse?
Bet it still would be around today if it had just adopted a simple 999 plan for its economy
Oct '10
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
What a hoot! Definitely worth the read.
So, Claire, where's that comparison of the candidates' foreign policy teams your 'friend' NotClaire UnBerlinski is writing?
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
genferei
What a hoot! Definitely worth the read.
So, Claire, where's that comparison of the candidates' foreign policy teams your 'friend' NotClaire UnBerlinski is writing? · Nov 23 at 6:25am
Ah, yes! I've been working on that. I was deep into the study of Newt's team. I got sidelined. But that's very worth doing. My first reaction to Newt's list was, "Some terrific people and some real nuts." It's kind of like being inside Newt's head, I think.
Mar '11
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: All of the candidates seemed positively eager to depart from foreign policy as quickly as possible and spend as much of their time as they could talking about domestic policy.
Winner: Obama. He at least has had recent experience of implementing the policy of leading from behind. ·
Being in Turkey has not served you on this I think Ms. Berlinski. There is a definite isolationist sentiment running through the nation at this hour. The absolute focus on domestic issues is what voters want to hear, for good or for ill. Foreign policy positions can only serve as a disadvantage for a candidate, the risk of putting a foot wrong is large as Cain demonstrated.
Jul '10
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
Obama is far more vulnerable on domestic issues. Any mention of foreign policy and he'll just say "Osama bin Laden" and drop the mic.
Oct '10
Re: The GOP and Foreign Policy
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: The most important thing is the dog that didn't bark. Undiscussed: The Eurozone collapse. Iraq. North Korea. Taiwan. Russia. Human rights, anywhere. Africa became a "country on the brink."
All of the candidates seemed positively eager to depart from foreign policy as quickly as possible and spend as much of their time as they could talking about domestic policy.
Winner: Obama. He at least has had recent experience of implementing the policy of leading from behind. ·
They also forgot Operation Fast and Furious.