2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumHillary Clinton Strikes Hawkish Tone Outlining ISIS Plans
In a closely watched speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Democratic frontrunner called for sending more U.S. special forces to Syria, imposing a no-fly zone in northern Syria and possibly arming Sunnis and Kurds in Iraq.
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Clintons vote in favor of the Iraq War divided her and Obama in the 2008 election and was a decisive reason she lost the nomination. She has said repeatedly the vote was a mistake, but her reputation as being more aggressive on foreign policy issues than the president has not changed. In her time as Secretary of State, she called for more action to arm moderate Syrian rebels, and was a voice for more intervention in Libya.
Their differences may be amplified by their current positions too. Nearing the end of his second term and facing no more elections, Obama has grown increasingly impatient with the political side of his job, while Clinton is already looking ahead to a general election where she expects to square off against a Republican candidate who will use similarly tough rhetoric on foreign policy.
During a Q&A in Turkey Monday, Obama said he wasnt going to take action against ISIS simply because it would make America look tough, or make me look tough, and compared critics to people who want to pop off on the issue.
By contrast, Clinton struck a more assertive tone in her speech.
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DesertFlower
(11,649 posts)i see him the more i like him and think he's qualified to be president. i love bernie but can't see him meeting with foreign leaders.
hillary's hawkishness is scaring me.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)His approach is to identify where there is little hope for agreement, set that aside and focus on common ground.
Buzz Clik
(38,437 posts)I think hawkishness is in order here. Sanders sure as hell is not backing away from using military force against the jack wagons.
Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)Hillary is not backing away from her calls for regime change in Syria, even though that has been a major obstacle to stability and security. She also is going against the President when she calls for a no-fly zone and she knows the Russians are flying there already.
She also blamed President Obama's supposed "failure" (her words) for the rise of ISIS, and she didn't back away from that today
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drew a foreign policy line between herself and President Obama in an interview this week, saying the President should have assisted Syrian rebels early in the bloody three-year conflict there, and issuing a dig at his Administrations minimalist doctrine.
The Obama Administrations wariness about assisting rebels out of fear that aid would fall into the hands of extremists was misguided and ineffectual, Clinton said in an interview with the Atlantic, and allowed for the rise of Islamic extremists who are now threatening to take over wide swaths of Iraq.
The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled, Clinton said.
Clinton also criticized Obamas foreign policy mantra on careful American foreign involvement, using a less foul-mouthed version of a doctrinal phrase that began emerging from the White House earlier this year. Great nations need organizing principles, and Dont do stupid stuff is not an organizing principle, Clinton said.
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pinebox
(5,761 posts)And yet people support her .....of course some support fracking too. /headsesk