Krauthammer: Rand ‘Closest to Obama’ on Foreign Policy

Columnist Charles Krauthammer stated that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) ” is the closest to Obama in his view of foreign policy” among the 2016 GOP field on Tuesday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel.

Krauthammer said, “events have conspired against him. He–a few years ago, before the consequences of Obama’s retreat around the world had become obvious, obvious in Yemen, obvious in Iraq, obvious with ISIS, obvious in Ukraine, obvious everywhere, it takes time, Obama started his retreat early, it doesn’t happen — the consequences aren’t there overnight. So, at the beginning it looked okay. Who wants to spend blood and treasure abroad? It makes sense, who wants to give foreign aid? Which were the Rand Paul positions, they were all–they were not a liability, it was a sort of fresh approach among Republicans. But now it is, because the Obama foreign policy has collapsed. And whatever name you want to put on Paul’s position, isolationist or non-interventionist, he is without a doubt, the one Republican who will be running, who is the closest to Obama in his view of foreign policy. Arguably he’s to the left of Obama on NS, on surveillance, on the use of drones, essentially on the war on terror. And when, in the byte you showed, this is one example, he says our goal is always peace, not war. Well, that’s the dichotomy Obama is always presenting, either peace or war, as if that is the choice. That is not right, our objective is always national security, and sometimes you can get it on the cheap, and sometimes you can’t. So, I think essentially he has a hill that he cannot climb. The more he [moves] to the right, and shows that he’s tough on foreign policy…I think it puts in question his authenticity, which is one of his strengths.”

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