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The Spectacle Blog
Mitt Romney seemed to equivocate a bit on the Iraq surge in 2007, and seemed to be equivocal on Afghanistan in recent debates. What’s that about? In a feature for The New Republic surveying the Republican field, Eli Lake gives some insight:
[Romney’s] camp in 2007 was divided. One of Romney’s top foreign policy advisers, Mitchell Reiss — a longtime American diplomat who served as the head of policy planning at the State Department in the second half of [Colin] Powell’s tenure — was a surge skeptic. But Dan Senor — an unofficial member of Romney’s inner circle who had served as a senior adviser and spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq — was a surge supporter, according to sources familiar with the 2008 Romney campaign. In the end, the surge forces won, and Romney never publicly questioned the policy. And, beyond the surge, Romney seemed content to take pages from Bush’s playbook on transforming the Muslim world. The neocons, after all, were the establishment — and Romney was the establishment candidate.
But, sometimes, it was possible to catch a public glimpse from Romney of what sounded like hesitation about the neoconservative worldview. At a debate in September 2007, Romney was asked about Iraq. He gave a rather measured answer in which he said that the surge was “apparently working” — two words that quickly drew a response from McCain. “Governor, the surge is working,” McCain admonished. “The surge is working, sir. It is working.” “That’s just what I said,” Romney replied. But McCain would have none of it. “No, not apparently,” McCain continued. “It’s working.”
Four years later, Romney once again appears ambivalent — this time about Afghanistan. Reiss and Senor, I was told, are again two of the people who have his ear — and again they are split. Reiss tends to emphasize the problems with the local Afghan government, while Senor tends to emphasize that we have to stay until the government has the capacity to defend itself.
Privately, the candidate himself is in the middle.
The Bush administration was as divided as Romney’s advisors (of course — they’re former Bush advisors), and as he took office it was far from obvious what direction American foreign policy would take during the Bush years. Bush’s governing worldview was forged in the internal arguments immediately following 9/11; his anti-nation-building campaign rhetoric became moot. I suspect that a President Romney’s actual foreign policy would likewise be forged by events, and while it’s not necessarily a bad thing that he’d likely hear multiple viewpoints, it does imply that supporting him doesn’t mean endorsing a particular strategic framework so much as trusting his judgment to sort out conflicting advice.
There’s a lot more to Eli’s piece, which also looks at Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, and Rick Perry (with a little about Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich as well), so do read the whole thing. See also Alana Goodman’s gloss on the divisions among the candidates regarding how serious a threat sharia law presents to America.
View all comments (9) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by John Tabin
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/07/29/romneys-divided-foreign-policy
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Occam's Tool| 7.29.11 @ 6:23PM
Bachmann understands the threat of Sharia better than ANY of the other Candidates.
WilliamR| 7.29.11 @ 6:28PM
Dan Senor is really bad news. If Romney were smart he would make a clean break from the Neocons. They'll drag him down just like they destroyed the Bush Presidency.
Clint.| 7.29.11 @ 7:16PM
Mittens Romney Ain't A Tea Party Cat.
"Rep.( Ron ) Paul’s overall victory in the Tea Party straw poll is a testament to two truths. The first is the mutual affinity between the Tea Party and the well-known aspects of Rep. Paul’s ideology. Perhaps without the Tea Party realizing it, its activism has emerged from a broader context of constitutionalism and libertarianism that has been championed for many years by Rep. Paul, who can legitimately be viewed as the grandfather of the Tea Party movement. Throughout his career, Rep. Paul has faithfully resisted the tide of fighting undeclared, empire-building wars, jacking up the federal deficit, and expanding government through bailouts and stimulus packages — the very same fiscally-conservative policies which helped galvanize the Tea Party movement."
The Tea Party Cranks Up For The 2012 Elections.
Carpe Diem.
Occam's Tool| 7.30.11 @ 6:34PM
Ron Paul says "Legalize It, Don't Criticize It," with Barney Frank.
Makes sense, since a lot of his foreign policy sounds like he's high.
Occam's Tool| 7.30.11 @ 1:41AM
More terror attacks from Islamic madmen, unreported by the mainstream press: (These are just the last two DAYS---and a preview of what we have to look forward to in America as Paul supports the spread of Islam, if elected.)
2011.07.29 (Nahr-e-Saraj, Afghanistan) - Women and children are among nineteen torn to shreds by a Taliban bomb attack on their minibus.
2011.07.29 (Saryab, Pakistan) - Seven Shia pilgrims waiting at a busstop are shot like ducks in a row by determinied Sunnis.
2011.07.28 (Makhachkala, Dagestan) - An elderly couple is stabbed to death in their home by an Islamic terrorist.
2011.07.28 (Baghdad, Iraq) - Fundamentalists car bomb a liquor store, killing one.
2011.07.28 (Oruzgan, Afghanistan) - Ten children and two women are among nineteen people slaughtered during a coordinated Taliban attack.
2011.07.28 (Tikrit, Iraq) - Two suicide bombers detonate amid a line of Iraqis waiting for paychecks, killing at least fifteen.
Stephen M | 7.30.11 @ 2:27PM
"[S]upporting him doesn't mean endorsing a particular strategic framework so much as trusting his judgment to sort out conflicting advice."
Now that IS a good thing. Presidents shouldn't surround themselves with people who only ever agree with each other (or with him). He should always have every viewpoint represented so he can reach a more informed decision, whatever it happens to be.
CB| 7.30.11 @ 6:45PM
We are not serious if we nominate someone without private sector credentials.
Romney spent 25 years as a private sector leader.
Romney inspires the most confidence. He is a moderate conservative who can win the general election. We won’t defeat Obama with another Sarah Palin/Christine O’Donnell, another Texas governor, or a professional politician who used accounting gimmicks to “balance” his budgets (Pawlenty).
It’s time to coalesce around Romney, defeat Obama, and win the Senate!
Dai Alanye | 7.31.11 @ 12:10PM
All this proves to me is that Romney can't make up his own mind on foreign affairs. I'm not the least bit surprised because his entire persona is based on what he thinks others want to see in him.
Even his so-called business experience is overblown, consisting at hacking away at enterprises others have built, never building one on his own. He has the outlook of an accountant not an entrepreneur.
yisong| 10.28.11 @ 9:09PM
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