Whether it is jobs, trade, taxes, business competitiveness, or energy prices, economic issues dominate the campaign trail. This past week on Renewing America, a project which looks at six major domestic issues that affect U.S. influence abroad, CFR Senior Fellow Edward Alden’s blog posts hit on several topics pertinent to the campaign trail. Read more »

GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul on Tuesday said he opposed cuts to health care benefits for veterans and active military and called on Congress and the other GOP presidential candidates to support legislation he co-sponsored that would prohibit the Defense Department from increasing TRICARE health program fees without congressional approval. Read more »

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the Michigan and Arizona primaries Tuesday (CNN), vowing in his victory speech to “restore America’s promise through more jobs, less debt, and smaller government.” A CNN exit poll shows that, in Michigan, the economy was the top issue for 55 percent of voters with the budget deficit ranking second at 24 percent. Similarly exit polling in Arizona showed that these issues are of major importance with 49 percent of voters polled picking the economy and 30 percent the deficit. Read more »

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Monday that the United States is facing an insurmountable challenge in Afghanistan (AJC). “We are not going to fix Afghanistan,” he said. “It is not possible. These are people who have spent several thousand years hating foreigners. And what we have done by staying is become the new foreigners.” Gingrich’s remarks came amid continued violent protests in Afghanistan over the burning of Qurans at Bagram Airfield. Over the weekend, Romney said on Fox News that the United States should focus on helping Afghanistan’s government improve security so it can fend off attacks from the Taliban. Read more »

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed the day before the Michigan and Arizona primaries, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum outlined a “comprehensive pro-growth and pro-family” economic agenda that he said he would work with Congress to pass in the first 100 days of his administration. His plan calls for only two income tax rates of 10 percent and 28 percent, along with a corporate tax rate of 17.5 percent. He also said he would approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, cut spending by $5 trillion over five years, and submit five free trade agreements during his first year in office to increase exports. Read more »

The sluggish economy has sparked new debate about the role of U.S. education, such as whether liberal arts or specialized degrees (WashPost) create the best workforce. It also raises new questions about growing student debt (Slate), which the government said today had reached $867 billion (Bloomberg). Many experts say U.S. educational achievement remains tied to the country’s ability to compete globally, and some argue it affects the overall trajectory of economy. Read more »

Entitlements, such as Medicare and Social Security, are a growing portion of the U.S. long-term debt. Many analysts says unless the entitlements system is reformed the national debt will become unsustainable. In a speech to the Detroit Economic Club, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney proposed raising the eligibility age for Medicare (AP) and eventually tying the eligible age to life expectancy. “With these commonsense changes, we will have fixed our balance sheet,” Romney said. Read more »

As the death toll in Syria continued to rise, President Obama again called for new leadership in Syria. He said that the international community would continue to maintain pressure and is “looking for every tool available to prevent the slaughter of innocents in Syria.” Obama’s remarks about President Bashar al-Assad came two days before a referendum on a new constitution (Reuters) that could keep Assad in power until 2028. U.S., European, and Arab officials met in Tunisia (FoxNews) Friday to try to forge a unified strategy to push Assad from power. Read more »

GOP candidates this week highlighted what they think should be done on Iran at a debate in Arizona. In this week’s views, we start with Israel where the military action against Iran debate is still drumming loudly. In Haaretz, Ari Shavit says if Israel strikes Iran, it will be President Obama’s fault: Read more »

A new Pew Research Center for the People & the Press poll finds that U.S. voters hold mixed views of the role of government in both helping and regulating the economy as the debate over fiscal policy rages on the campaign trail. On the bank bailout and President Obama’s stimulus spending, the poll finds more people disapproved than approved in 2012, nearly unchanged from 2010 polling. But Pew also found that a majority of voters now believe the bailout of GM and Chrysler helped the economy, though only 37 percent felt that way in October 2009. Read more »