2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders Is More Serious on Foreign Policy Than You Think
On CNN last week and on Meet the Press this week, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders cited me as someone who has given him foreign policy advice. I admit I was surprised to hear thisI have spoken to Senator Sanders only once since he declared his candidacy, in October. In the time since, this fact has been used by the media and his opponents to cast doubt on Sanders foreign policy credibility, to point out a supposed weak spot in a surging candidacy: Since Im not on his campaign, and have met with him only once, how serious could Sandersthe socialist crusader battling the former secretary of statereally be?
The answer is: serious. Since Sanders public mention of me, I have been asked repeatedly whether I think his foreign policy positions and experience are sound. I do.
In my dealings with him, and in analyzing his record in Congress over the past 25 years, I have found that Sanders has taken balanced, realistic positions on many of the most critical foreign policy issues facing the country. In the mold of realists like Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush, Sanders voted against the invasion of Iraq in 2002, while wisely supporting the war against in Afghanistan in 2001 and the intervention in the Balkans in 1990s. And Sanders certainly isnt a foreign policy lightweight: In fact, given his long tenure in the House and Senate, he has more foreign policy experience than Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama did when they were running for office the first time.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-foreign-poicy-213619#ixzz401ChOZQy
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-foreign-poicy-213619
elleng
(130,972 posts)'who has worked at several think tanks, served as an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. The views expressed here are his own, and do not represent the views of any of his employers or the Sanders campaign.'
Glamrock
(11,802 posts)Bookmarked. Great resource for countering the foreign policy argument while trying to get voters...