Foreign Policy Debate

It was a nice change to hear the GOP candidates talking about foreign policy in this week’s debate in South Carolina. With the economy in such a bad condition, it seems candidates have been focusing a lot on issues to fix it. But the other night the topics ranged from foreign aid to the Iranian nuclear threat. The feeling among all the candidates that was the same was they’re agreeing that President Obama is too soft with America’s enemies. While discussing Iran, the candidates argued over how to dissuade the regime in Tehran from carrying out they’re plans to develop a nuclear weapon. Newt Gingrich said that if all else fails, "you have to take whatever steps are necessary" to prevent that outcome. He said the approach should include covertly “taking out their scientists” and “breaking up their systems.” Mitt Romney took a different approach in his response to the discussion saying that if Obama were reelected then Iran would get a nuclear weapon but “if you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

In the issue of foreign aid, Perry said many times, that in his administration foreign aid for all countries would start at “zero dollars.” He said that he did not trust Pakistan. He believes they are sending messages that they don’t deserve foreign aid. Perry said, “It’s time for us as a country to say no to foreign aid to countries that don’t support the United States of America.” I liked Perry’s remarks on this subject. While watching I felt that he had a plan for the country. Gingrich supported Perry’s idea as well saying, “You ought start off with zero and say explain to me why I should give you a penny.” However, both Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum believe America should be more careful with Pakistan as they do have nuclear weapons. Santorum said, “Pakistan must be a friend of the United States.”

Perry’s last debate did not go so well as he forgot the name of the agencies he wanted to eliminate. However in this debate Perry joked about his mistake when he compared his proposal to foreign aid at zero dollars to his approach eliminating the agencies. He joked, “We ought to do that with some of those agencies I was trying to think the name of.” I thought this was a clever way to acknowledge his embarrassing moment and in a way redeem him by making fun of it.

Once again when discussing the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, all the candidates criticized Obama. Jon Huntsman said he believed it was time for the troops in Afghanistan to come home. But both Perry and Romney said they would side with military commanders on the ground about when to withdraw troops. Romney did say though, that he supports a full withdrawal of the troops by the end of 2012.

Since the debates over the past weeks, Cain is still doing well in the polls, although Gingrich has risen quit a bit in the recent national polls. Meanwhile, Perry has fallen back not surprisingly due to his slip up in the debates. In an interview with Donald Trump, Trump said when asking Perry why he keeps messing up, Perry responded debates are just not his thing. The President of the United States needs to be able to speak eloquently and think fast when under pressure but do these debates really convey a good president?