The candidates and foreign policy - Political Forum

Troianii · #1 (**permalink**) 03-07-2008, 10:42 AM

According to an article on page A6 of the Wall Street Journal, Hillary and Obama are too weak on foreign policy, McCain may be too tough.

Quote:

In his victory speech Tuesday night, John McCain ticked off his muscular foreign-policy plans and then, with clenched jaw, urged the wordy crowd to "stand up and fight for America."
The Republican presidential nomine's resolve will now be tested on a national stage. His record in Congress suggests that a McCain White House could assume a tougher posture overseas than has the current administration, which has itself often been criticized as too bellicose. Sen. McCain has joked about bombing Iran, ruled out talks with North Korea and, ealier this week, condemned the new leader of Russia.
His worldview will likely pose a contrast to his opponent, be it Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Sen. McCain and his Republican allies are preparing a campaign built around the assetion that either Democrat would be too soft. The Democratic nominee will likely portray Sen. McCain as a reckless saber-rattler.
... In a recent Pew Research Center survey, 47% of respondents said they tought Sen. McCain was "tough enough" on foreing policy, compared with 39% for Sen. Obama and 44% for Sen. Clinton. One in four thought Sen. McCain was "too tough"---compared with only 3% for Sen. Obama and 9% for Sen. Clinton.

I'd also like to add that the bar graph showed that roughly 15% of respondents said that Sen. McCain was "not tough enough", compared with 38% for Sen. Clinton and 45% for Sen. Obama.

Quote:

...Sen McCain, whose father, grandfather and sons served in the military, has also vowed to increase the size of the armed forces to 900,000 from 750,000--an expensive endeavor he says can happen without raising taxes. Sen. McCain plans to increase the efficiency of current programs and use the savings to fund the increase.
... Today, Mr. McCain is also championing causes that are more on the liberal side of the spectrum. He is a strong opponent of torture and an advocate of taking steps to combat global warming. If elected, he promises to start a League of Democracies that would be nimbler and more focused than the U.N. He stresses the need to rebuild ties with Europe and to regain what he calls the "solidarity that united the West during the Cold War."

mairead · #2 (**permalink**) 03-07-2008, 11:28 AM

I know that I may be out of order here, but where was the call to 'Stand up and fight for America' after 9/11.
I know many many Americans, young and not so young would have imediately answered the call after the unspeakable atrocity committed in New York. What was McCain doing then?

Troianii · #3 (**permalink**) 03-07-2008, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mairead

I know that I may be out of order here, but where was the call to 'Stand up and fight for America' after 9/11.
I know many many Americans, young and not so young would have imediately answered the call after the unspeakable atrocity committed in New York. What was McCain doing then?

He was neither the President nor running for the President.

But I think that you're taking the phrase out of context. You may have to ask McCain himself, but I don't think that this was actually a call to arms.

Goldstone69 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-07-2008, 12:04 PM

Until any of the named candidates actually gets to be President i doubt we will truly find out how tough or otherwise any of them will turn out to be.
Some may talk a good position but until they face real decisions with real consequences we will not know how they will react under pressure .