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Libyan Rebels Succeed In Tripoli and Laud Obama's Measured Intervention: GOP Candidates Mum.
Libyan Rebels Succeed In Tripoli and Laud Obama's Measured Intervention: GOP Candidates Mum.
As reported on POLITICO.com, Jon Huntsman was the only candidate to lay out a clear position on Obama's decision to assist the NATO-lead civil war, stating through a spokesman that he still believes that the mission was "not core to our national security interest." Everyone of the other candidates that has made any comment at all has carefully dodged passing judgment on Obama's strategy in Libya, instead hailing Gaddafi's downfall or praising the Libyan fighters. Rick Perry called the fall of Gaddafi's “violent, repressive dictatorship” a “cause for cautious celebration.” Romney simply said the world was better of without Gaddafi, and called for the return of the Lockerbie Bomber to the U.S. for trial; a politically-motivated statement that might get some positive attention but has little bearing on events in Libya's actual events.
Several Republicans, including John McCain and Brian Hook, advisor to Tim Pawlenty's no defunct campaign, criticized Obama on moving too slowly to military action. However, American involvement can take many different shapes, and although unilaterally "empowering" (see: overpowering) a country's people to defeat a dictator has been a legacy of the House of Bush. For decades before, many of the U.S. engagements overseas were much more similar to Obama's strategy in Libya, careful application of intelligence, money, and military alliances in effecting an outcome. Now that the strategy has proven effective in at least overthrowing the dictatorship, his Republican opponents need to figure out how they can reframe the narrative away from their previous criticisms. In other words, they need to find new ones, and that will probably mean pretending it didn't happen at all.
This election is going to hinge more on the economy and jobs, for sure. However, for people looking at being the Commander-in-Chief, it's impossible to ignore such a pivotal foreign policy moment forever. Instead, my guess is that most of them will follow Huntsman's lead. The criticism is banal, but it's enough of a soundbyte to throw to reporters until they can move the conversation to what Libya should do to rebuild, and not the success of Obama's strategy there.