The Council on Foreign Relations has launched its very first weblog, The Candidates and the World, which aims to track the campaign through the prism of foreign policy, trade, international economics, and national and homeland security issues out on the stump on a daily basis.
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Posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 by campaign2008
On the Today show Wednesday morning, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) said the United States should respond to Iranian missile tests with aggressive diplomacy.
IMMIGRATION: Both presidential candidates spoke before the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) national conference on Tuesday. Obama promised to make comprehensive immigration reform a “top priority” in his first year as president. “We have to finally bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows,” he said. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) discussed his economic and energy policy plans and pledged to continue to fight for immigration reform.
SERBIA: In a statement on Tuesday, Obama congratulated Serbian leaders for the formation of a new government. Obama encouraged the Belgrade regime to foster “positive and responsible relationships” with its neighbors, including Kosovo.
Posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 by campaign2008
In an interview with the Financial Times, Anthony Lake, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), said Obama will likely pressure European allies to implement tougher sanctions on Iran. Lake also discussed Obama’s plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, the U.S.-India nuclear deal, and U.S. policy toward Pakistan.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) released his “crime fighting strategy” on Tuesday. That strategy includes the expansion of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s Criminal Alien Program, so that state and local officials will have access to identifying information regarding “criminal aliens.” McCain “believes that state and local governments should not be saddled with the cost of fixing a problem created by the federal government’s failure to secure the border,” a campaign press release said.
Speaking from Colombia Tuesday, McCain said pressed President Alvaro Uribe on human rights in that country. He also praised Uribe’s “significant progress” (WashPost) fighting the FARC.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) leaves today on his trip to Colombia, where he says he will work to promote free trade. Upon arriving in Cartagena this evening, McCain will meet with President Alvaro Uribe and several other leaders.
From Colombia, McCain will travel to Mexico. Speaking to reporters Monday, McCain said he would urge Mexican leaders to implement economic reforms (TIME) and curb the flow of illegal immigrants to the United States.
The New York Times looks at the reasoning behind candidates’ trips abroad during the campaign season.
Obama foreign policy advisers Bruce Riedel and Susan Rice held a conference call on Monday in response to reports of al-Qaeda’s proliferation in Pakistan. Full audio of the conference call is available here.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will travel to France, Germany, Israel, Jordan, and the United Kingdom in July, his campaign announced over the weekend. The trip will be “an important opportunity for me to assess the situation in countries that are critical to American national security, and to consult with some of our closest friends and allies about the common challenges we face,” Obama said.
Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) both discussed their plans for comprehensive immigration reform (LAT) before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials over the weekend. McCain promised to address the issue of illegal immigration “in a humane and compassionate fashion.” Both candidates called for tighter border security, but, Obama said, “If we think that a wall is the sole solution to the problem, then we’re not thinking it through.”
The Boston Globe looks at McCain’s reputation as both a strong critic of the military and a defense hawk.
Posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 by campaign2008
The Los Angeles Times reports that anti-illegal immigration activist groups have had to reshape their national strategy since neither of the remaining presidential candidates represents their position well.
The Washington Post looks at the evolution of Sen. Barack Obama’s position on ethanol.
The BBC interviews the Vietnamese man who was in charge of the Hoa Lo prison where Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was held captive for more than five years.
Posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 by Joanna Klonsky
Speaking at a meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday, former Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson expressed optimism that the next president will be able to accomplish comprehensive immigration reform.
“If the next president says in the first 100 days, here are my three top issues, and immigration is one of them–I think the other two should be ending the war and a sensible energy policy, then it can get done,” he said.
Richardson, who has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), said the next president will likely have enough sympathetic lawmakers to pass such a bill, but noted any effective legislation will have to be bipartisan. Richardson praised the Kennedy-McCain immigration reform bill shelved in 2007, saying that piece of legislation represented the “best legal immigration position.”
Another Obama supporter, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), spoke at CFR June 9. Webb said the United States needs “the type of national leadership” that can bring about a “complete withdrawal of American combat forces from Iraq.”
Posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 by Joanna Klonsky
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination late last week, saying he will now channel the energy of his presidential campaign into “long-term efforts to take back our country.” Paul has said he will not endorse presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. Paul, whose campaign enjoyed massive grassroots political support, advocated a series of libertarian political and economic reforms. He called for a decidedly non-interventionist approach to international affairs.
Here is a review of his main views on foreign policy matters:
• Paul adamantly opposed the war in Iraq, and was one of only six House Republicans to vote against its authorization in 2002. “The sooner we withdraw the better,” he wrote on the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war.
• He also opposed U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan.
• Paul criticizes neoconservatives pushing for the use of force against Iran. He is skeptical of reasons given to justify war with that country, saying Iran is not going to attack Israel and is “nowhere close” to getting a nuclear weapon.
• He also opposes the distribution of U.S. foreign aid, particularly to Israel and other Middle Eastern countries.
• Throughout the campaign, Paul said the problem of illegal immigration cannot be solved “until we have a healthy, thriving economy.” He advocated a physical tightening of the U.S. borders and opposed amnesty and welfare for immigrants.
• Paul voted against the USA Patriot Act and has been critical of other infringements on Americans’ civil liberties.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) released a new ad, with Spanish subtitles, that focuses on his plan to help Latino small business owners. The plan includes what he calls “pro-innovation immigration policies.” No other details of the plan were immediately available.
In a statement Thursday, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) responded to a USA Today report that said recently released Pentagon records indicate tens of thousands of troops deemed medically unfit for combat have been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003. As president, Clinton said, she would “not send a single soldier into combat who is not medically fit.” She also promised that “for every month our soldiers spend in the field, they will be guaranteed one month here at home” if she is elected.
Posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Wednesday released her “Hispanic agenda.” The plan includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and says family reunification should be the “core principle” of the immigration system. It also includes legislation to reduce climate change by 80 percent by 2050, noting that “39 percent of Latinos live within 30 miles of a power plant, which puts them at maximum exposure to pollutants, and often Latinos are not aware of advisories about environmental pollutants.”
In a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday, Clinton called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Admiral William Fallon as Commander of U.S. Central Command. She called Fallon “a voice of reason in an administration which has used inflammatory rhetoric with respect to Iran,” and expressed concern that Fallon’s decision to resign “may not have been his own.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s nominating contests in Ohio and Texas, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) attacked Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for her record on Iraq. Clinton “won’t even admit” that her vote in favor of the 2002 authorization of the war in Iraq “was a mistake, or even that it was a vote for war,” said Obama at a town hall meeting in Westerville, Ohio.
Clinton continued to criticize Obama’s foreign policy credentials as well. At a campaign stop in Dallas on Saturday, Clinton told voters Obama “didn’t tell you until the debate the other night that he had never even held a single substantive hearing” of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Europe subcommittee, which he chairs, “to figure out what he could do better” (MSNBC).
Republican candidate Mike Huckabee visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas, where he said a border fence would actually combat the “assumption that everyone who is here with some Hispanic background is here illegally.”
