August 4, 2006
“...The United States has adopted a new policy, a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East. This strategy requires the same persistence and energy and idealism we have shown before. And it will yield the same results. As in Europe, as in Asia, as in every region of the world, the advance of freedom leads to peace.”
President George W. Bush
November 6, 2003
Sorry to say events on the ground in the Middle East have not worked out as President Bush had hoped. His Greater or Broader Middle East Initiative to bring peace, freedom and democracy to the region lies in shambles as war rages in Lebanon and civil war threatens in Iraq and America’s image is tumbling by the moment. Voters are looking ahead to 2008 to see if anyone out there running for president has a coherent, workable policy for the Middle East and the rest of the world.
Does America need to elect a person with extensive foreign policy experience? Or do we hope people who have had little foreign policy experience like Harry Truman will rise to the occasion and be a successful foreign policy president? Is it better to come into the Oval Office on day one with a clean slate with no background in foreign affairs? Or are we so scarred by our policies in Iraq and elsewhere that we will demand a seasoned foreign policy pro as our next president?
Look at our recent presidents - they have come from their jobs as governors with little or no foreign policy experience. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush - four out of our last five presidents have been governors and their main foreign policy background has been in trade policy trying to get foreign firms to invest in their states. Not exactly a resume for running the world’s only superpower. Yet Americans elect governors to the presidency and in 2008 this may be the case again. But can we afford an untested new president with no background in foreign policy other than the required visits to Europe, Israel and now India and China?
Let’s take a look at the many potential candidates to see if anyone out there with an eye on the White House in 2008 has been a governor with foreign policy experience.
Actually Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, fits that description. He is unusual in that he was a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and the Energy Secretary of the United States. He has been used to help solve international disputes, most noticeably talking to the leadership in North Korea. If voters are looking for a governor with a foreign policy background to put in the White House in 2008 Richardson fits the profile.
However, there are several senators who have more foreign policy experience than Richardson but have not been governors.
Senator Joe Biden has been the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee when the Democrats were in control of the Senate in the past. He is a lively and outspoken critic of the president’s Iraq policy. Biden would enter the Oval Office with a coherent view of the world and, most likely, a foreign policy agenda.
On the other side of the aisle, Senator John McCain, is another potential presidential candidate who would need little or no on the job training if he became our next president. McCain is a genuine war hero and a man who has experienced combat first hand. McCain is a supporter of the president’s policies in Iraq and supports the Israeli response to Hezbollah in its fighting in Lebanon today.
Senator John Kerry is another able spokesman on foreign policy issues who was the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004. The senator from Massachusetts is a critic of the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq. He is a candidate who has been in combat in the Vietnam War so he knows war firsthand.
Once you go beyond these potential 2008 presidential candidates it is hard to see who has the required experience necessary in foreign policy.
Senator Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic frontrunner at this early stage of the campaign, has mainly focused on domestic issues such as health care. She is speaking out more on foreign policy issues but other than having been First Lady for eight years it is difficult to see any other experience in the foreign policy field.
Former senator and 2004 Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards seems to be running for president in 2008 on purely a domestic agenda. He hardly touches on foreign policy issues as he stays focused on domestic issues.
Senator Evan Bayh is a former governor of Indiana who is speaking out on foreign policy topics. He has a way to go to catch up in foreign policy expertise with the other potential candidates but he does have being a governor in his favor as he competes for attention in the crowded Democratic field.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is considered a hero by many Americans for his brave actions during and after 9/11. As mayor of New York he had more dealings than usual with foreign policy issues.
Senator Chuck Hagel is a Vietnam War veteran who is critical of the president’s policies in the Middle East. The GOP presidential possibility has spoken out in the past more on Social Security and other topics but is knowledgeable on foreign relations topics.
Senators George Allen and Sam Brownback spoke at our Politics and Foreign Policy breakfast series we hold with the Financial Times at Johns Hopkins SAIS and impressed many in the audience with their views on foreign relations.
And a longshot potential Republican presidential candidate in 2008, Secretary of Sate Condi Rice would definitely fill the bill for her knowledge of foreign affairs issues. If she can pull off an “enduring peace in the Middle East” and find a way out of the quagmire in Iraq she would be a strong possibility as a foreign policy candidate.
Other potential candidates will throw their names into the ring including former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. They all are or have been governors but need to bone up on foreign relations issues as their campaigns gear up.
Will American voters be looking for a foreign policy superstar as our next president? Will foreign relations issues dominate the 2008 presidential campaign? Who will get the “Big Mo” as former President George H.W. Bush called getting momentum with the voters in 1980?
Stay tuned as the presidential race will begin in earnest after this fall’s congressional elections.
|
