The GOP debate: 11 countries to watch
Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate will, at least in theory, require the candidates to explain their view of America’s role in the world. With its focus on national security and foreign policy, the CBS/National Journal debate will force the field to talk about something they’ve, for the most part, spent the campaign avoiding — a coherent vision for American foreign policy.
But with the economy overshadowing all else and most of the GOP field — aside from former Ambassador Jon Huntsman — bereft of significant experience in foreign affairs, expect frequent pivots back to jobs and the unemployment rate.
Continue ReadingThose pressures aren’t the only forces driving the presidential candidates to look inward, rather than beyond American shores: The GOP itself is struggling to reconcile the views of the party’s hawkish wing with the more isolationist-oriented tea party wing.
Even within those confines, there are some nations and foreign policy issues that are likely to receive extended treatment in Saturday’s s debate in South Carolina. Here is POLITICO’s list of 11 countries to watch:
Italy and Greece
The deeply-in-debt Mediterranean nations are the epicenter of Europe’s financial problems and are used as cautionary tales by Republican candidates warning about the dangers of unchecked federal government spending.
Look for candidates to mention those nations, currently in the headlines as fiscal basket cases, as worst-case scenarios in the event America fails to reduce the nation’s ballooning deficit and reform entitlement spending.
At a time of deep economic unease in the United States, don’t expect the candidates to offer much assistance to the sick nations of Europe.
Herman Cain distilled the thinking into its purest form earlier this week. After the first question during Wednesday’s CNBC debate on the economy was about whether a President Cain would help bail out Italy, Cain the next day mocked the idea of helping the country during a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“I was asked last night during the debate … what should we do about Italy. Italy?” he said, to laughs. “I’m sorry they’re having problems. But we have some problems here at home.”
Cain continued: “You know, you’ve flown on an airplane, and they say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, in the event of a pressure-related problem the mask will drop down in front of you. If you’re sitting next to an infant, please put your mask on first. Well, Italy is sitting next to us. We ought to put our mask on first. … We’ll give ‘em some advice. But we’re not the bailout nation for the whole world.”
China
As an economic and national security rival — not to mention a human rights violator that has trampled on religious freedom — China has captured the interest of nearly every wing of the GOP and emerged as a top punching bag for the Republican base.
One candidate is especially well-positioned to dominate on this issue: Huntsman, who served as ambassador to China for the first two years of the Obama administration, speaks Mandarin and remains an expert on Asia.
If the former Utah governor is going to have any impact Saturday night, it will be in revealing his expertise on China. But his likely problem, as it has been throughout the debates thus far, is that he’ll be relegated to the end of the stage and might receive only the crumbs of the moderators’ questions.
Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller told POLITICO Friday that Huntsman, who has tweaked Romney regularly online and during press interviews but has not done so during debates, will make clear his foreign policy differences Saturday.
Israel
The GOP presidential candidates, with the exception of Ron Paul, have tripped over each other pledging to be Israel’s best friend.
The country is the centerpiece of Cain’s “know who our friends are” foreign policy, Romney and Rick Perry have said they will eliminate any daylight between the U.S. and Israel. Bachmann and Santorum have narrowed their focus on Iowa’s evangelical Christian voters — and they care deeply about maintaining a strong U.S.-Israeli relationship.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68200.html#ixzz1dVNX8Phb
