I would love to know what Mitt Romney really thinks about the world today and what we can do to make it better. Someone with his abilities is no doubt capable of coming up with original insights. If he has come up with anything new in world affairs, he has decided not to share them with the American people.
Once upon a time the GOP attracted and cultivated foreign policy heavy weights. It now appears that Ronald Reagon and George H. W. Bush were the last in a long line of distinguished Republican Presidents who owned American foreign policy debates. When the world looked for big ideas it looked to America, and America looked to the leaders in foreign policy who were largely members of the Republican Party. Now the party of worldy ideas doesn't seem to have an idea in the world.
For instance, Gov. Romney said he opposes a nuclear Iran, yet he wholeheartedly endorsed their rational for seeking nuclear weapons. When asked about Pakistan Mr. Romney said whoa, hold on there, they have 100 nuclear weapons and counting, better treat them with respect. And that's exactly why some of Iran's leaders want nuclear weapons. If they were watching this debate he just made them more determined than ever to get nuclear weapons.
But most distressing was the lack of any vision for how the United States can best be a global leader. President Obama didn't offer one either, and the truth is we have entered a time period where there is no dominant framework for understanding the world. At least the President could have acknowledged that fact and challenged aspiring leaders to come up with one. He missed a prime opportunity to inspire a new generation of thinkers on foreign policy but instead stuck to politics as usual.
Romney, as the GOP Presidential nominee, is the standard bearer for his party. He seemed terribly ill informed. The Middle East is not in chaos, as he indicated. Protests are all the TV cameras ever show, but outside that narrow portal little has changed. Iran is not four years closer to a nuclear weapon; scaring people into voting for you is pretty low, but that is the new reality for the GOP when it comes to foreign policy. Its not just that Romney may win or lose; America has lost because it needs a GOP where knowledge of the world isn't limited to a mindset that says, gosh, there are a lot of countries out there where the people don't look like us, think like us, and we're not convinced they like democracy. Heavens.
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