To assure his reelection on Nov. 2, US President George W. Bush appears unhesitant about playing the isolationist card, belittling Democratic challenger John Kerry's commitment to greater cooperation with US allies.
"Remember the last debate, my opponent said that America must pass a global test before we use force to protect ourselves," Bush said in their second debate on Friday night. "That's the kind of mindset that says sanctions were working. That's the kind of mind-set that says let's keep it at the United Nations and hope things go well."
Bush, who in his first term embraced the doctrine of preemptive war, has been playing on voters' deep-seated isolationist sentiments, harking back to the Reagan era of the 1980s.
"I recognize I've made some decisions that have caused people to not understand the great values of our country," he said. "I remember when Ronald Reagan was the president.
"He stood on principle. Some might have called that stubborn, ... standing up to the Soviet Union. And we won that conflict. Yet at the same time, he was very -- we were very unpopular in Europe because of decisions he made."
Bush, 58, without extensive personal experience outside the US, appears little interested in foreign relations and is at virtually ever juncture in sharp contrast with his 60-year-old opponent.
Kerry was educated in Switzerland, speaks fluent French and has spent much of his 20 years in the US Senate in foreign relations matters.
Rather than suffering from that comparison, Bush wants to turn it to his advantage, demonizing other countries, particularly those in Europe, that opposed the war he launched on Iraq in March last year.
"I will never allow other nations to veto America's national security decisions," he reiterated in a campaign speech in Waterloo, Iowa, Saturday, drawing cheers from the friendly audience.
Bush, however, praises countries like Britain, Italy and Poland that sent troops to support the US war effort in Iraq.
Responding to Kerry's criticism that his policies have isolated the US, Bush on Friday retorted: "You tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Silvio Berlusconi we're going alone. Tell Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland we're going alone. We've got 30 countries there."
It goes unsaid in these speeches that the limited coalition Bush enumerates pales against that put together by his father, former President George H.W. Bush, in 1991 to oust the Iraqi invaders from Kuwait.
Iraq is not the only theme on which Bush gives rein to his isolationist rhetoric in attacking Kerry.
The Democratic challenger, Bush said in his Saturday radio address, "supports the International Criminal Court, where unaccountable foreign prosecutors could put American troops on trial in front of foreign judges."
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