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Advisers promote McCain's softer side on the foreign front |
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Posted by Truth About Trade & Technology
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Friday, 05 September 2008 |
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
By Jeremy Wallace
Originial Publish Date: September 4, 2008
For most of the Republican National Convention, Republicans promoted Sen. John McCain as a hawkish leader who will not give up the fight in Iraq and will stand strong against nations such as Iran.
But on Wednesday, miles from the bombastic language used to whip up partisans in a hockey arena in St. Paul, four of McCain's top foreign policy advisers began projecting an image of the Arizona senator as a thoughtful advocate for diplomacy who would be loath to use military force.
"Most see him as inclined to the military option because of the visibility and persistence of the questions around the Iraq War," Sen. Joe Lieberman told a room of about 230 people at a foreign policy forum at Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. "But John in fact has, from what I would say from my own conversations with him, a veteran's distaste for military conflict."
Instead, Lieberman and other McCain advisers said McCain would embrace free trade, invest in education around the world and use other non-military efforts to protect America's interests.
It is an approach McCain's backers called "soft power."
That can be a hard idea for some to swallow given that McCain is a former Navy pilot and was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and has vowed in public forums to chase terrorists to the "gates of hell."
U.S. Ambassador Richard Williamson said McCain is often quoted on his tough talk, but the media rarely gives currency to his governing philosophy.
Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Portman said McCain understands that trade is a critical tool in developing good foreign policy. He said trade helps bind economies together and usually leads to better overall relations.
"Countries that trade together don't fight," Portman said.
Former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane also pushed the point during the hourlong discussion focused on the softer side of McCain's foreign policy program.
The four men are not just trusted advisers during the campaign. All four would likely be advisers in a McCain presidency. Portman said he expects Lieberman to be a key adviser in a McCain White House because of his vast international experience while serving in the Senate.
Williamson, who worked in the White House for President Reagan in the early 1980s, argued that the media perception of McCain as a hawk runs counter to McCain's history. He said that as a young congressman, McCain publicly opposed Reagan's plan to send Marines to Lebanon.
"He would look to use force more judiciously," Williamson said. "He knows the cost of war. He is not going to be reckless."
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