Perry Tries to Split the Difference on ‘Military Adventurism’ Posted by Jacob Stokes

Rick Perry’s performance in the debate last night showed he continues to be midway through the transition from Tea Party governor to neoconservative candidate. The tension between those two schools of thought was drawn out by a specific question last night from Politico’s John Harris. Harris asked Perry: “You recently said, quote, ‘I do not believe that America should fall subject to a foreign policy of military adventurism.’ Looking back, do you think President George W. Bush was too quick to launch military intervention without thinking through the risks?”

Perry’s answer was, “I was making a comment about a philosophy; I don't think America needs to be in the business of adventurism.” And then he pivoted to, of all things, congratulating President Obama on nabbing Osama bin Laden. You know the man is flustered when he parries a question by praising Obama.

Harris tried to not let Perry off that easy though, following up with “it's hard to understand philosophy without understanding specifics. Where are some of the places where you think we've seen military adventurism?” In other words, say Iraq, say Afghanistan. Hell, even just say Libya.

But Perry wouldn’t. He responded to Harris’s second question with some boilerplate language about clear exit strategies and American interests. Harris let him slide after that.

Getting out of all our actual – as opposed to theoretical wars -- was the preferred stance last night. Santorum was the lone voice for American primacy. Bachmann gave a slight endorsement of the idea as she argued against defense cuts – “We have, for many years, maintained global order in the world with our United States military.” -- but her stance there was undermined by her lack of support for the Libya action.

Perry knows the wars aren’t selling. He also knows that his advisors were the architects of the sort of “military adventurism” of the last ten years that he was alluding to in his speech to the VFW, where the quote came from. Throwing them under the bus would have provoked a loud outcry—and likely desertion—from neocons in Washington. He tried to thread the needle, but I think it was one of his weakest moments of the night. If these issues have salience with the electorate, which the evidence suggests that they don’t, Perry looked very wishy-washy last night.

One other quick highlight: Jon Huntsman argued for incorporating the costs of military protection of transportation routes for oil into the price of gas: “When you add up the cost of troop deployments, when you add up the cost of keeping the sea lanes open for the importation of imported oil, the bulk and distribution and terminaling costs (ph), it's $13 a gallon, so says the Milken Institute. And I say the American people have had enough.” Savor that, because it’s an argument that’s unlikely to be heard in a presidential debate for a while.

In case you missed the debate, the full transcript of the main foreign policy exchange is below:

HARRIS: Governor Perry, as we approach the 9/11 anniversary, I'd like to stick with national security for a moment. You recently said, quote, "I do not believe that America should fall subject to a foreign policy of military adventurism." Looking back, do you think President George W. Bush was too quick to launch military intervention without thinking through the risks?

PERRY: I was making a comment about a philosophy; I don't think America needs to be in the business of adventurism.

But let me just say something about the president of the United States. And I know he's -- he's taken lots of slings and arrows here today. But one thing that I want to say that he did do that I agree with is that he maintained the -- the chase and -- and we took out a very bad man in the form of bin Laden, and I -- and I tip my hat to him.

I give more props to those Navy SEALs that did the job, but -- and the other thing this president's done, he has proven for once and for all that government spending will not create one job. Keynesian policy and Keynesian theory is now done. We'll never have to have that experiment on America again.

And I might add that he kept Gitmo open against the will of his base, and I'm glad he did that. America's safer for it.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: Sir, just if I could quickly follow on that, you said you were making a philosophical comment, but it's hard to understand philosophy without understanding specifics. Where are some of the places where you think we've seen military adventurism?

PERRY: As I said, that is -- that was a philosophical statement that Americans don't want to see their young men and women going into foreign countries without a clear reason that American interests are at stake. And they want to see not only a clear entrance; they want to see a clear exit strategy, as well.

We should never put our young men and women's lives at risk when American interests are not clearly defined by the president of the United States, and that's one of the problems this president is doing today.

HARRIS: Congresswoman Bachmann, on the same theme, you opposed the U.S. intervention in Libya. If President Obama had taken the same view, Gadhafi would, in all likelihood, still be in power today.

To be clear, are you advocating a shift away from the George W. Bush freedom agenda with its emphasis on removing dictators from power and promoting human rights?

BACHMANN: Well, I want to say, as devastating as our economy is with the policies of Barack Obama, I think that he has actually weakened us militarily and with the United States presence globally. We have, for many years, maintained global order in the world with our United States military. We have the finest military. But in this last debt ceiling debate, one of the alternatives that came forward that we're going to be looking at with this new super committee of 12 different members of Congress is to see that our military could be hit with a huge reduction in resources.

The president has not done what he needs to do to keep the United States safe. If you look at the biggest issue in the Middle East, it's a nuclear Iran, and the president has taken his eyes off that prize.

As a matter of fact, what he's done is he's said, in fact, to Israel that, they need to shrink back to their indefensible 1967 borders. I sit on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. We deal with the nation's classified secrets. And I firmly believe that the president of the United States has weakened us militarily and put us more at risk than at any time.

HARRIS: Congresswoman, time. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: I just want to follow up on that. The Arab Spring is a big, big issues in the world. And the question is, what role does the U.S. have, including militarily, to promote democracy and topple dictators? I didn't hear your answer with respect to Libya.

BACHMANN: Well, I believe that it was wrong for the president to go into Libya. Number one, his own secretary of defense, Gates, said that there was no American vital interest in Libya. If there is no vital interest, that doesn't even meet the threshold of the first test for military involvement.

The other thing is, we didn't know who the rebel forces were in Libya. Take a look at where we're at in Libya today.

Take a look at the oil revenues. We don't know if they will get in the hands of people who will have designs on radical Islam and the implication of a global caliphate. These are very serious issues, and I think it was wrong for the president of the United States to go into Libya.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMS: Senator Santorum, your reaction to Congresswoman Bachmann's stand on what we're watching take place in Libya right up until tonight.

SANTORUM: Well, we're in the Reagan Library, and I'm hearing from at least a couple of people on this panel a very isolationist view of where the Republican Party should be headed about pulling troops out with Governor Huntsman and with Ron Paul.

The bottom line is, Ronald Reagan was committed to America being a force for good around the world. We were a society that believed in ourselves and believed that we can spread our vision to the rest of the world and make this country a safer country as a result of it.

We didn't have missions where we put exit strategies saying this date is when we're going to leave. We didn't say that we are the problem and the cause of the problems that confront us around the world.

We were -- we are a source for good. We could have been a source for good from the very get-go in Libya, but this president was indecisive and confused from the very beginning. He only went along with the Libyan mission because the United Nations told him to, which is something that Ronald Reagan would have melted like the old Wicked Witch of the West before he would have allowed that to happen.

WILLIAMS: Senator, time.

SANTORUM: This is a very important issue for our party. Are we going to stand in the Reagan tradition, or are we going to go the isolationist view that some in this party are advocating?

WILLIAMS: Time.

Image: Rick Perry via Flickr

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Thanks for your good summary and analysis of the debate last night. It is definitely going to be interesting to see how the GOP is going to be able to produce a candidate that can not alienate the old guard while clearly making the change the American people are craving. Do you feel that Perry is the guy that can emerge to do that? Huntsman? It surely will be an interesting election season!

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Compare two Perry moments in the debate: his vagueness re: "military adventurism" & bravado about executing possibly innocent people. Of course George Bush differs from Rick Perry. Nonetheless, both men hemmed & hawed about military adventurism (or nation building) in presidential debates; both men reveled in executions. When push came to shove, Bush opted for the swaggering &, frankly, bloodthirsty stereotypical Texan mode over his once-promised humble foreign policy. Whatever Perry thinks (or says he thinks), his feelings seem to be what he will act on. He has been awarded with electoral success for not being thoughtful; why expect him to govern differently?

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