I, for one, think John Bolton is the best qualified candidate to run. For those who think he's too long a shot, I say, balderdash! America is being tested in a way she has never been tested before. The same old, same old will not do. Never have we had a President in the White House working against American interests and the damage Barack Hussein is inflicting on this great nation is incalculable. Milquetoast ain't the answer.
John Bolton: "I Would Reverse All of Obama's Policies"
We must have a strong leader, statesman, patriot to right the ship in 2012. Bolton is the man. If the worst, least qualified candidate like Barack Hussein can be President, it stands to reason that the best, most qualified ought to have a shot.
We need a superhero :)
Jennifer Rubin, newly installed at the Washington Post blog, has the skinny:
John Bolton interview: Obama's in over his head
It's December 2010, so it must be 2012 campaign season. A number of possible Republican presidential candidates have suggested (perhaps to endear themselves to weary political reporters) that they won't announce -- at least formally -- for several months. But that's a dodge. The pre-announcement jockeying -- which looks an awful lot like campaigning -- is well underway. Rep. Mike Pence delivered a candidate-like speech in Detroit on Monday. And a day doesn't pass without an e-mail missive from Team Pawlenty. Here at Right Turn, we'll be looking at and talking to would-be contenders and assessing how they might stack up against the competition. Today: former United Nations ambassador John Bolton.
There's been no harsher critic of the Obama administration's foreign policy than Bolton. Whether on START, the Iranian threat or "Russian reset," he makes no bones about his
concern that President Obama is simply "in over his head" on national security, as he told me in a wide-ranging interview that touched on his own presidential aspirations and his criticisms of Obama.
Bolton has begun to talk openly to conservative gatherings and media about his interest in a 2012 presidential run. "I'm seriously considering it," he told me in an interview, in large part because of the "lack of foreign policy debate." Having gotten past the idle chatter stage, he says he's going to make the decision "in a very deliberate way" and suggests that making up his mind by mid-2011 is "not unreasonable." He contends that he stands as good a chance as anyone. "The race is wide open," he says. Anticipating questions about his ability to fund-raise, he says that new media has introduced a whole different style of campaigning, and it's not necessary to have millions in the bank, as did former Texas Gov. John Connally, who famously spent a fortune to get a single GOP delegate. Bolton jokes that when it comes to the largess of a Connally, "I don't have that luxury. But there are lots of things to consider -- like losing all of your personal income."
Even admirers of Bolton acknowledge that his run would be a long shot. But in a field that includes many "serious" contenders with no foreign policy experience, Bolton would certainly have a rationale for his run -- to elevate discussion of foreign policy at a time when elected Republicans have many criticisms of the administration, but little opportunity to divert attention from domestic policy concerns. One key Republican congressional staffer confessed to me this week that with some notable exceptions, including Rep. Eric Cantor, most House members don't consider foreign policy "within their comfort zone." But a candidate like Bolton can certainly tee up issues, and in fact, amidst the buzz around his potential candidacy, he is already doing just that.
As a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Bolton travels widely and speaks to foreign policy officials around the globe. He says he hears a lot about the "fundamental weakness" of Obama's foreign policy approach. "Despite all the goodwill" when he took office, Bolton says, "the performance and the execution - beyond the substance - have a lot to be desired." Bolton asserts that "unlike every president since FDR, this president doesn't think foreign policy is a top priority." Bolton says he is particularly concerned about the Iranian threat: "Arab states don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons any more than Israel does, and they fear that Obama is going to deliver them into the hands" of a nuclear-armed Iran. (This observation was confirmed by the WikiLeaks documents released this week.)
If, as Bolton describes, the perception of Obama is now one of weakness, how does the administration get back on track? "Once you are perceived as not being up to the job, and we're at that point, only performance can get it back." But Bolton cautions that no one should wish for a crisis for Obama to prove his mettle -- and he adds that, given Obama's past performance, he's not optimistic about how the president would perform in such a crisis.
