Oh my here we go again. Romney's vision for 'an American century'. From CNN this morning.
One day after President Barack Obama referred to the jobs crisis in America as "an emergency", GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will deliver his first major foreign policy speech, sharply criticizing the president while laying out his own vision for what he calls "An American Century" including calling for increased military spending.
In an advance draft of his planned remarks he'll deliver before cadets at The Citadel in Charleston, Romney is expected to lay out his vision that combines economic and military strength, noting that "God did not create this country to be a nation of followers."
"This century must be an American Century. In an American Century, America has the strongest economy and the strongest military in the world. In an American Century, America leads the free world and the free world leads the entire world."
If this sounds familiar it should, in fact Romney has apparently lifted his foreign policy vision whole from the Project for a New American Century, a group founded in 1997 which published its Statement of Principles four years before that vision was enabled by 9/11. Signatories and key extracts under the cruller.
First the signatories:
Elliott Abrams Gary Bauer William J. Bennett Jeb Bush
Dick Cheney Eliot A. Cohen Midge Decter Paula Dobriansky Steve Forbes
Aaron Friedberg Francis Fukuyama Frank Gaffney Fred C. Ikle
Donald Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad I. Lewis Libby Norman Podhoretz
Dan Quayle Peter W. Rodman Stephen P. Rosen Henry S. Rowen
Donald Rumsfeld Vin Weber George Weigel Paul Wolfowitz
Some of these names were household at the time: Forbes, Qualye, Bauer, Bennett and perhaps Fukuyama. Others maybe only political junkies could have picked out of a lineup but are pretty notorious today: Gaffney, Khalilzad, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, 'Scooter' Libby. But you only had to be minimally informed about the world to recognize Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney and Vin Weber. But basically we are talking about the Neo-Con Wall of Shame.
Extracts from the Statement:
But conservatives have not confidently advanced a strategic vision of America's role in the world. They have not set forth guiding principles for American foreign policy. They have allowed differences over tactics to obscure potential agreement on strategic objectives. And they have not fought for a defense budget that would maintain American security and advance American interests in the new century.
We aim to change this. We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership.
As the 20th century draws to a close, the United States stands as the world's preeminent power. Having led the West to victory in the Cold War, America faces an opportunity and a challenge: Does the United States have the vision to build upon the achievements of past decades? Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests?
and:
Our aim is to remind Americans of these lessons and to draw their consequences for today. Here are four consequences:
• we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global
responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;
• we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;
• we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;
• we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.
As Molly Ivins quipped about Pat Buchanan "He sounds better in the original German"
Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Mittster!
Hey I like doing a little Obama bashing here and there, I published warnings about the Obama economic team all the way back in Spring 2008, only the blind couldn't have predicted the centrism. But lets not lose focus here. The Mittster with this release and the naming of his foreign policy advisory team yesterday (Mitt Romney’s Foreign Policy Team Includes Former Nat'l Security Figures, Conservative Scholars) is poised to give us 'PNAC: Reloaded'.
Christ remember that Bush was the moderate, work across the aisle, compassionate conservative President to be back then. Gosh no different than Al Gore. DO NOT make this mistake AGAIN. Because I really don't want to spend the next five to nine years repeatedly violating Godwin's Law, the last decade was crappy enough.