Democrats Draw Foreign Policy Distinctions
Many analysts say the policy differences between Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) are negligible, but Obama continued to stress foreign policy distinctions between the front-runners, even as the very close Super Tuesday votes were still being tallied.
Clinton refrained from criticizing Obama in her Super Tuesday speech. Instead, she repeated her pledge to “stand up to the oil companies and the oil-producing countries,” “launch a clean energy revolution,” and “finally confront the climate crisis.” She also described her vision for the United States as a country “respected around the world again, that reaches out to our allies and confronts our shared challenges - from global terrorism to global warming to global epidemics.”
Obama made similar promises of a “new kind of politics.” As president, Obama said, he would ensure that the United States views “9/11 as a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century, terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.”
Repeating a refrain he has often used in recent campaign stops, Obama said the Republican nominee “will not be able to say that I voted for the war in Iraq.” He also pointed to Clinton’s vote in favor of the September 2007 Kyl-Lieberman amendment labeling the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization. Though Obama did not mention that he did not vote either for or against that amendment, he said a Republican opponent could not say “I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran, because I haven’t.”
He also referred to his disagreement with Clinton over diplomatic methods. Obama has said he would be willing to meet with rogue leaders during his first year in office. Clinton has called that approach naïve, and has cited Obama’s view as evidence of his inexperience and lack of qualification for the job of president. Tuesday night, Obama seemed to accuse Clinton of supporting “the Bush-Cheney doctrine of not talking to leaders we don’t like.”
