Mitt Romney speaks like a neocon, but is he one?
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Howard LaFranchi Staff writer
| Washington
Mitt Romney has preferred to keep to economic issues in his presidential campaign, but when he has turned to foreign policy he鈥檚 revealed the influence of the muscular, with-us-or-against-us neoconservative thinking that waxed strong in the George W. Bush administration.
That was true last week when Governor Romney excoriated President Obama for what he said was a weak and apologetic response to anti-American violence in the Middle East. It came through again Tuesday in the video that surfaced with Romney telling donors in Florida that the Palestinians 鈥渉ave no interest whatsoever鈥� in peace.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing in Romney鈥檚 pronouncements the strain of the Vulcans, the extremist form of vulcanism together with the evangelical position on Israel,鈥� says Geoffrey Kemp, a foreign policy expert at Washington鈥檚 Center for the National Interest, a realist think tank. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very, very unlike the Republican foreign policy we knew before George W. Bush.鈥�
The Vulcans refers to the foreign-policy team that candidate Bush assembled and that continued to advise him in his presidency after the 9/11 attacks and that in particular prodded him to wage a war of choice in Iraq that was supposed to result in a reformed and pro-American Middle East.
The neoconservatives鈥� unapologetic approach to the world and America鈥檚 role in it 鈥� criticized as shoot first and consider the consequences later 鈥� was thought by many foreign policy experts to have suffered a humiliating fall over the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.
But Romney鈥檚 foreign policy pronouncements suggest not only that the neocons are back, but that 鈥� when compared with the traditional multilateral internationalism exemplified by the first President Bush 鈥� they are in the driver鈥檚 seat.
鈥淧eople like [former secretary of state] James Baker and George H. W. Bush must be very troubled by what they are hearing,鈥� says Mr. Kemp, who served in the White House under President Reagan. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 help but feel that their brand of American foreign policy is not what they鈥檙e hearing from the Republican candidate.鈥�
One of Romney鈥檚 chief foreign policy advisers is Dan Senor, who hails from the Bush Iraq war team. Mr. Senor has also been assigned to polishing vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan鈥檚 foreign policy credentials, and some foreign policy analysts insist that the voice of the Iraq war enthusiast could be heard in Mr. Ryan鈥檚 assault last week on the Obama foreign policy for its lack of 鈥渕oral clarity鈥� and 鈥渇irmness of purpose.鈥�
It was Senor who orchestrated Romney鈥檚 trip to Israel in July 鈥� a trip that among other things underscored Romney鈥檚 complete abandonment of the American role of peace facilitator that Republican and Democratic administrations alike have cultivated.
That disregard for the peace process came through even more clearly in the video that surfaced this week, in which Romney says, 鈥淚 look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there鈥檚 just no way.鈥�
The influence of Romney鈥檚 neocon advisers was also evident in the candidate鈥檚 and his campaign鈥檚 blistering attacks on Obama鈥檚 response to the anti-American violence that has targeted US interests in the Middle East and across the Muslim world over a video made in the US that denigrates Islam.
Romney accused Obama of sympathizing with the protesters, and his aides suggested that a President Romney would set such a firm, no-apologies-for-American-superiority course that no one would dare attack US interests.
Commenting on the violent attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the death of four US diplomats, including the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, US diplomat and Romney adviser Richard Williamson told the Washington Post, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a pretty compelling story that if you had a President Romney, you鈥檇 be in a different situation.鈥�
Yet while Romney鈥檚 pronouncements and some of his positions 鈥� hints he鈥檇 back an Israeli decision to bomb Iran鈥檚 nuclear facilities, and promises to brand China a currency manipulator from Day 1 of his presidency 鈥� suggest an aggressive and hawkish foreign policy, some key Romney appointments point in a different direction.
Some political analysts saw in Romney鈥檚 naming in August of former World Bank president and Republican foreign policy moderate Robert Zoellick to head his national security transition team the harbinger of a more cautious and multilateral approach to the world.
The Zoellick appointment elicited howls of disdain from conservative foreign policy hardliners, but giving such a key post to a James Baker prot茅g茅 suggests to some observers that Romney, if elected, would approach the world from a more traditional center.
鈥淚f Romney were to be elected president, his foreign policy would probably be quite reasonable because hopefully he鈥檇 have people like Zoellick around him,鈥� Kemp says. 鈥淵ou might think from some of the things he鈥檚 said that he鈥檇 be the president who would attack Iran and slap sanctions on China his first day in office. But my guess is he鈥檇 listen to his military establishment, and he鈥檇 realize the dire economic straits we鈥檇 be in if he started a war in the Middle East.鈥�
