Last week’s South Carolina GOP presidential debates once again reminded Americans of the importance of foreign policy, despite the fact that voters in the U.S. typically cast their ballots based on domestic economic and social issues like unemployment and Social Security or abortion, health care and same-sex marriage.
Newt Gingrich, a history professor and long-time Washington insider, dominated the candidate field on all topics foreign policy related. But one Gingrich quip in particular seems to have caught the attention of those on the left and right — albeit for very different reasons. In response to a statement Texas Congressman Ron Paul made about capturing and trying terrorists (in light of last year’s execution of al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden by American Special Operations Forces) during last Monday’s debate in Myrtle Beach, Newt noted:
“South Carolina in the Revolutionary War had a young 13-year-old named Andrew Jackson. He was sabered by a British officer and wore a scar his whole life. Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear-cut idea about America’s enemies: Kill them.”
While fellow Republicans cheered, Democrats were left standing, mouths agape at what liberal pundits labeled a simplistic, bombastic and outrageous view of terrorism.
But the irony of Newt’s comments was that the former speaker was merely articulating what is now roughly understood to be the Obama Doctrine, a continuation of the Bush Doctrine, which involves a single, simple maxim: Kill the terrorists over there so the U.S. doesn’t have to confront them over here.
But unlike Bush, who staunchly supported this aggressive policy with his typical cavalier style, Obama pigeon-holed himself into accepting targeted assassinations against al Qaida and its allies (a policy first initiated by Democratic President Bill Clinton near the end of his second term when he authorized capture/kill operations for bin Laden). In closing Guantanamo Bay by executive order on his first day in office, by standing staunchly against rendition and enhanced interrogation techniques and by advocating the “criminal-justice model” (i.e., the European model) over the “war model” to fight terrorism — despite Obama’s failure to get a trial for terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammad in federal court — the current president left himself no other option but to kill them “over there.”
Obama, who ran on a platform decrying the Bush administration’s flagrant disregard for the rule of law, has assassinated more terrorists in his three years in office than Bush did in his eight.
Hypocrisy is certainly the most common attribute of any politician, but that doesn’t make it right. Democrats should think twice before lambasting Newt for a policy their president has adopted with even greater vigor than his predecessor, regardless of the reasons why.
Melissa Jane Kronfeld was a reporter with the New York Post from 2005-2009. A graduate of New York University and George Washington University, she lives in New York City, where she writes about politics and international relations. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Global Affairs.