Posted on 10/16/2011 11:25:34 AM PDT by Def Conservative
When pressed for answers today on Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq, the best Cain could do was to repeat his mantra that he would consult experts and then figure it out. Which is to say that he knows he hasn’t a clue but hopes no one will care. The program also produced Cain’s admission that he had no familiarity with the neoconservative movement. While being a subscriber to COMMENTARY isn’t a requirement for the presidency, the idea that someone running for that office had not even heard the term suggests that Cain is not only bereft of foreign policy experience, he apparently has never even read much about it.
As COMMENTARY readers know, neoconservatism has a long and honorable history as the movement that helped mobilize the country to oppose détente and the Soviet Union as well as having played a key role in critiquing the failures of the welfare state. During the Bush administration, leftists used the word as an epithet seeking to demonize those who believed not only in the need to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but also in the whole idea of promoting democracy abroad. After all that, it truly says something about a public figure that would admit to never having heard the word or to know what it might mean.
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
Cain is actually modest in saying this. I believe he has a pretty good handle on foreign policy. I haven’t heard any other candidate express their stance as clearly as Cain:
On Iran: http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/herman-cain-interview-on-new-ideas-to-tame-iran-dick-morris-tv-lunch-alert/
On Israel: http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/28/the-u-s-must-stand-with-israel/
http://www.therightscoop.com/herman-cain-brings-the-house-down-at-values-voter-summit/
Or elect me first and then I’ll figure it out!
And if you don’t like it, I will tell you its a joke.
If the neocons hate him, then I am madly in love with Herman Cain.
You are right.
The funny thing is, no one has ever accused Joe Biden of being too inexperienced for foreign policy — which of course misses the point — that he’s been wrong on almost every major issue for 30 years.
But damnit, he sounds like he knows his stuff when he is on David Gregory’s show!
If this is any indication of his lack of foreign policy experience, I can’t wait until he feels he has a better grasp on it. He is practically the only candidate even discussing these things:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cain-rips-obamas-dumb-foreign-policy_595953.html?nopager=1
“I think that the way he handled the surge [in Afghanistan] was not the right way to do it,” Cain said during a phone interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “First of all, it took him too long to give the order to do the surge in Afghanistan. When they finally did the surge, and the commanders on the ground were able to start making some progress with these additional resources, then he goes back about a year later and desurged the surge. First of all, I would have asked the commanders on the ground, ‘When do you think we need to do this?’ Because if he did, he didn’t listen because both Admiral Mullen and General Petraeus were surprised when he went public with his decision. That says that he didn’t listen to his commanders.”
“I would not have told the enemy what we were going to do,” Cain continued. “That is ill-conceived. That does not make good common sense.”
Cain said Obama is “doing the same thing in Iraq.”
“We’ve got 43,000 people still left over there,” he said. “The Iraqis are making good progress with the help of those 43,000. So what does he do? He goes off and says we’re going to by the end of the year pull out 40,000 troops. I’m sorry if this is not politically correct, but that is a dumb thing to do.”
“Iran has already told its terrorists over there stop fighting the American soldiers, just wait until the end of the year,” Cain continued. “This makes no sense to telegraph what it is that you’re doing. They are sitting back, waiting for the 40,000 troops to leave and then they’re going to overrun their country and try to take it back in a sectarian manner. You don’t need foreign policy experience to know that doesn’t make good common sense.”
To paraphrase Nasty, “We have to elect him to find out what’s in him.”
I see how badly you are trying to help Romney, but I don’t think it’s working.
It may be for a while however that could change in a flash anytime before the elections.
It’s criminal how these twerps can twist what someone says.
He didn’t fall for Gregory’s neo-conservative because he didn’t want to be labeled something that has different meanings to different people.
He said that he would not project a solution for Iraq or Afganistan because he doesn’t have all the facts from the generals on the ground, and his decision would be based on facts and their recommendations.
Tobin is a tool!
Herman Cain is the only candidate who doesn’t fake it. He courageously admits his shortcomings on foreign policy, but how many presidents go into office with full knowledge of foreign policy? Mr. Cain is right to refuse to state an opinion on a matter of which he has not been briefed. What do you know?! An honest GOP candidate!
Herman Cain can stand proudly on his record of success in the real world. No funny business with Herman Cain!
I musta missed the years we’ve tried smart.....
I heard his electric fence joke was real knee slapper.
Commentary still proudly ignorant of the massive failings of the “Democracy Project”...
Another good one by Tobin. Interesting that Tobin and Bill Keller actually agree with each other on the fact that Cain is unqualified.
HEAR! HEAR!
It may be for a while however that could change in a flash anytime before the elections.
Regardless, whether one is intimately familiar with the "nuance" of foreign relations, does anybody have any doubt that there is a "right way" and a "wrong way" to conduct foreign policy.
The simple fact of the matter is that, in foreign policy, the interests of the US of A remain paramount, and it is not overly difficult to accurately identify who are our allies and who are our enemies -- and who might lie in between.
Foreign policy is not "rocket science". And I would trust a Herman Cain to make better decisions in this regard than the current incumbent.
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