Now a Wedge Issue: Foreign Policy Experience
At least until late April, Democratic party infighting will ensue. John McCain, widely recognized for his dedicated service to the United States and his hawkish approach to foreign affairs (particularly Iraq), received the Republican presidential imprimatur this week and is the party candidate for November’s general election.
As the unpopular President endorsed McCain, media and thereby voter attention stayed on the Clinton-Obama contest for the Democratic nomination.In the first of, presumably, many attempts to come, Hillary Clinton continued her foreign policy offensive against Barack Obama today. This time, however, the Senator from Illinois did not sit on the sidelines: through a chief foreign policy surrogate, Prof. Susan Rice, Obama’s camp made it clear that they do not believe Clinton’s “3am phone call” accusation–that Clinton is prepared for the call in the middle of the night, and that Obama is not–to be factually substantiated.
That said, Hillary Clinton was on the offensive today as she claimed to have “crossed the threshold” of acting as commander in chief. She said that while John McCain had certainly acted as statesman, reporters would have to check with Obama’s camp whether this was the case for him. Obama’s campaign inteds to fight back, and watchers are settling in for at minimum another month of campaigning, at the extreme, Denver. The question for us is whether the candidates will proceed with the use of foreign affairs as a way to gain votes.