James Forsyth James Forsyth

How the US presidential campaign will change American foreign policy

Whoever wins the Republican nomination and takes on Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election is going to campaign hard on the issue of the US national debt and the idea that constantly running deficits is dragging the nation into decline. This is going to have a serious impact on the foreign policy debate in the US.

It is striking that John Huntsman (pictured with Barack Obama), the former US ambassador to China who was governor of Utah and is running as a middle of the road Republican, has chosen to introduce himself to voters in New Hampshire with criticisms of the cost of the Libya mission. He said, ‘I think we have to be very careful about where we choose to spend our money and what we define as being important to our national security interest.”

This is similar to the tack taken by Mitch Daniels, the Indiana governor who the Republican establishment is desperately trying persuade to run.

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