Biden on foreign policy (from his interview with Jonathan Capehart)

[highplainsdem]

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/30/biden-responds-gaffes-criticism-what-is-it-that-i-said-wrong/

CAPEHART: And if you ... if it was President Biden at the G-7, and the Iranian foreign minister came to the G-7, would you have met with him as he did, as he came to the G-7 now?

BIDEN: I would not meet with anyone on a critical subject without having a competent foreign policy staff work out the details before we got there. The idea of just showing up on a critical issue without, I mean, having worked through anything does not make sense. But I would encourage this ... my national security adviser, my secretary of state, my secretary of defense to be negotiating with them ... what is it you wanna talk about, and what are the circumstances, so we know the ground rules before we sit down. Because you cannot make ... especially making judgments on the fly. I’m prepared to meet with anyone as president if in fact, I understand what the game is. For example, I would not have met with Kim Jong Un until I knew he was going to make a commitment. What did he want most? Legitimacy. That was it. So the president, without making any concessions at all, meets with him and gives him the legitimacy. What did that do? It weakened our ability to maintain an embargo on those countries who would supply them with everything from energy to technology.

CAPEHART: Is French President Emmanuel Macron, is he now the leader of the free world? And can the United States get that mantle back? Will the world trust America again?

BIDEN: Let me put it this way: for France and for the world, America has to get the mantle back. We are the indispensable nation, as the former secretary of state said. And they need us and they want us, but they gotta have some knowledge that the president of the United States knows what he or she is talking about, has been there before, knows and has a competent team around them, that the State Department is not an echo chamber where you can holler down the hallway and hear an echo, that we’ve actually funded, funded the State Department, and that we haven’t walked away from our basic commitments.

So if I’m elected president, I suspect the first couple months I’m gonna be just on a reassurance tour, on the telephone with a lot of our European leaders as well as Asian leaders, that are our allies, saying, “Look, we gotta put this back together.” It is and it’s critically important, not just for the United States, but for the rest of the world. Who else does it? Who else can do this? And I’m not being critical of Macron, I’m not being critical of any other single world leader. But we are the indispensable nation, and that’s what the rest of the world knows. When I went to the Munich Security Conference, you had ... and this is, I’m gonna shorthand, so don’t quote me on ... I mean you can quote me on [laughter] this. No, no, no. You know what I mean.

CAPEHART: I know what you mean.

BIDEN: Angela Merkel stood up and said basically we gotta go it alone, telling her European friends. All the heads of state were there, the foreign secretaries, the defense secretaries, national security adviser, and something like 35 members of the United States Congress; John McCain used to always lead that delegation. And everybody kinda nodded, “Yeah, I guess we can’t basically trust America to keep their commitments.” This president treating NATO like it’s a protection racket, “Pay up or we’re not gonna support you.” What the hell are we talking about?

And so secondly, you end up in a circumstance ... and by the way, we got NATO to say they would, in fact, move toward their 2 percent commitment. But in addition to that, then what happened is Vice President Pence spoke up. He said, “I know I’m representing the president.” There was dead silence in the room. Nothing. I get invited, I get a standing ovation, not because of me. I get introduced because ... not everyone stood but I get this incredible ovation, and what happens? It’s not about me, and my dad used to have an expression, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, Joey, compare me to the alternative.” Well, I’m standing up and I’m actually having a rational position on what they asked me to speak to: Is there a view in America that still thinks that NATO is important; that still thinks Europe is critical to us? And so I made the case like most of the members of Congress made at the time. But, what’s going on here? The United States has to lead the world.

Jennifer Rubin tweet:

Link to tweet

Ron Klain on the interview:

Link to tweet

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. After reading this interview and the comments,

I'm leaning more and more toward Biden. He's so solid on foreign policy and could probably do the best job of repairing the horrendous damage Trump has done and continues to do in that area.

[highplainsdem]

2. Exactly. And the new president will have to repair that damage as soon as possible.

[Turin_C3PO]

8. Yeah my number 1 priority is foreign policy.

That’s why I back Joe instead of Elizabeth, whom I agree with more domestically. We must repair, in full, the damage and horror wrought by this criminal regime.

[oasis]

3. K and R. Biden's the One.

[emmaverybo]

4. So much for the "out of step," "not the candidate for the moment we are in" mindless memes.

Biden is exactly who we need at this most perilous time in the world.

Fix the damage Joe
The world needs you

[Cha]

5. Ron Klain's polite suggestion!

Link to tweet

Great Find, highplainsdem Thank you!KR!!

[micDROP]

6. He's Just OK

Joey B is just OK on foreign policy. I'd like the US to be led by Kamala. She has a "get it done" attitude that is much needed.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. What's her foreign relations/policy experience?

You need more than just attitude.

[emmaverybo]

9. She hasn't expressed much interest in this crucial area. In addition, foreign policy does not depend

on debate gotcha moments. She carries herself well in debate or public speaking situations and has a range of prosecutorial skills, but like Obama lacks in-depth knowledge and experience. Obama selected Biden because he had FP cred, important so inexperience is not taken advantage of. Too, we are a superpower among superpowers and still the leading nation in the free world.

After Trump’s bumbling, other nation’s trust will be an issue—our allies’ trust in our word and our enemies trusting our resolve.

Style and attitude alone mean little on the world stage. You can’t shame or bluff folks like Putin.

[peggysue2]

10. Joe Biden is the only candidate with hands-on foreign policy experience

He has stood on the world stage, knows and has worked with most of the leaders around the globe and grasps the geopolitical nuances that have shaped and continue to shape the world community. No other candidate can say that. Trump and his enablers have literally shredded our standing across the planet, gutting our diplomatic services. It's going to take a seasoned hand to put this back together, so that both our allies and adversaries know that we are back.

Joe Biden was made for this moment.

In addition, he understands how domestic policy and foreign policy intertwine. We lead by example or we do not lead at all.

[BlueMTexpat]

13. He still voted

FOR the Iraq War.

I would certainly trust him over the Orange Aberration and will proudly vote FOR him if he is the nominee.

But ... !

From the PBS news hour: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/why-bidens-long-foreign-policy-record-could-be-a-liability

Snippets:

...
He called for an end to the war in Yemen, without spelling out what steps he would take as president to do so. The remark drew a rare round of applause from the audience, which remained largely silent for the duration of Biden’s 45-minute speech.

His comment on the war in Yemen — a conflict that has been exacerbated by a Saudi-led intervention — pointed at divisions within the Democratic Party, as well as the foreign policy establishment, about how to deal with some longtime U.S. allies that have poor human rights records.

Saudi Arabia is an example of a country where “there’s been some serious rethinking about how we do business with foreign allies,” Hamid said. Other Democrats in the race, such as Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have shown a willingness to have that conversation, he added. “Biden hasn’t,” Hamid said.
...
“His experience consisted of having voted for the Iraq War resolution, and generally being a fellow traveler of liberal interventionism. He hasn’t shown much original thought or initiative in foreign policy,” said Barnett Rubin, who served as a senior adviser to the special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan under President Barack Obama.
...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Hillary Clinton also voted for the Iraq War Resolution.

But we were cool about voting for her, right?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

17. No

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. I voted for her. Didn't you?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. Don't get me wrong; I like Harris a lot, and if she's the nominee

I'll support her enthusiastically. But she doesn't come close to Biden with respect to foreign policy experience - in fact, none of the other candidates do. Biden was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for years, and for many of those years he was either its chair or its ranking member. His experience was one major reason why Obama, who didn't have much, chose him as his running mate. He was in the thick of it as VP for eight years.

“He’s been doing this for 30-plus years and even the best foreign policy hands end up being tutored by Joe Biden,” said one former foreign policy adviser to Biden who declined to speak on the record until that person’s former boss makes a decision about 2020. “We have a lot of candidates and unfortunately very few of them have any real depth or experience working in foreign policy issues.” https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/20/biden-2020-foreign-policy-national-security-1228345

Also: https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-biden-rosapepe-20190829-7dbmwz4u3bbghl77mdemowr2re-story.html

[Control-Z]

11. This was an excellent read.

It was based on the opinions of some pretty outstanding Americans. I hope everyone gets a chance to read, at the very least, this entire OP and not just the subject line.

Alrighty then. I'm now going to click on over to the link and see what is left
to read that wasn't already provided for us here.

[Tarheel_Dem]

12. K&R