http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/13/MNB31LUCD8.DTL
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/11/what-we-learned-at-the-foreign-policy-debate/248386/
In his article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Richard Dunham speaks of Perry’s background on Foreign Policy saying, “While Perry has little experience on foreign policy- he boasted that he was the ‘commander in chief’ of more than 20,000 Texas National Guard troops- has made several major policy pronouncements that set him apart from the pack.” (Dunham). Furthermore, Perry did call for sanctions against Iran’s central bank and advocated dismantling the foreign aid programs that the US is currently participating in, believing that each nation should have to explain their needs for foreign aid before receiving such grants. On this topic, as Molly Ball describes in her article in The Atlantic, that if there isn’t an exception for Israel, this might not go well with the rest of the GOP that seems to be pro-Israel. When specifically asked about Israel, Perry said, “Obviously, Israel is a special ally, and my bet is we would be funding them at some substantial level, but it makes sense for everyone to come in at zero and make their case.” (Ball). This idea that Israel will be treated like any other nation is a hot topic among the GOP. The main criticism for Perry on the topic of foreign policy seems to be that he doesn’t have much experience with the issues. As Ball describes, Perry responds to this by calling on “his experience as commander-in-chief of a state with an international border and his zeal for enhanced interrogation techniques.” (Ball). On the topic of foreign policy, foreign aid seems to be what catches most of Perry’s interest and rightfully so. I think his stance on this issue is easy to agree with because many question the reasons for the amount of foreign aid that the US participates in. However, he will have to figure out how to appease the rest of the GOP on the subject of Israel. Perry has done well with the topic considering his lack of experience as many have noted.
According to professor Uhlmann of CMC, foreign policy issues take up roughly 80% of the president’s time once he is in office. Unfortunately, our political system is structured such that some of the best candidates for president, former governors of state government, usually have little or no foreign policy experience. In the GOP field only Huntsman and to an extent, Gingrich, have any real experience on the issue. Obama and bush were elected with hardly and foreign policy experience at all and yet foreign policy played a huge role in both their terms. - Madison Friedman
ReplyDeleteI personally think that claiming to give out aid only to those who make a good argument is a naive and vague policy suggestion. I could easily see this promise biting him in the behind if he were to go ahead in the race (which I don't think he will), just because it's very broad and does include Israel, a country which the U.S. shows close to no signs of supporting any less.
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