WASHINGTON – In a speech at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday that sounded like the first foreign policy address of a presidential campaign, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called for a return to the international politics of President Ronald Reagan.
Cruz contrasted Reagan’s approach with the Obama-Clinton policy of not putting distance between the U.S. and traditional allies, such as Britain and Israel, in the hope of “domesticating” long-standing enemies such as Russia and Iran.
“This backfired,” Cruz argued. “The end result is that Churchill is no longer welcome in the Oval Office.
He recalled one of Obama’s first acts in office was to return to Britain a bust of Winston Churchill that had been on long-term loan.
Cruz objected to the moral equivalence he sees as central to the Obama-Clinton foreign policy.
“In the foreign policy of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, all nations are equal and should be treated with respect and empathy, regardless whether they are friends or enemies,” he said.
“Let me be very clear,” Cruz objected. “When it comes to dealing with radical Islamic terrorists who are crucifying Christians and beheading children, what our foreign policy needs is not additional empathy. It needs clarity, force and resolve to defend the United States of America.”
Addressing relations with Russia, Cruz argued Obama and Clinton were certain their new approach to Russia would “tame the Russian bear.”
Then, Cruz related, Hillary traveled to Moscow famously with a red “Reset Button” that had been mistranslated to read in Russian “Overload.”
“At times, Obama and Clinton spoke truth without even realizing it,” Cruz commented wryly.
“Then, the United States offered additional concessions, such as the cancellation of missile defense for Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as the signing of a new START treaty that disproportionately limits our ability to deploy missile defenses. Obama even promised Putin’s henchman Dmitry Medvedev that he would have additional ‘flexibility’ to make even more concessions after being re-elected in 2012.”
Cruz asked the audience rhetorically if anyone could image Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher making such statements to the Soviet Union, which Reagan characterized as an “evil empire.”
“Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula while Obama pleaded for calm,” he noted. “The sanctions imposed by the Obama administration had no discernible effect whatsoever, except to make the Russian stock market go up because the sanctions imposed were so weak.”
Cruz also railed against the Obama administration strategy to negotiate with Iran, with Secretary of State John Kerry apparently willing to allow Iran to keep enriching uranium while developing ICBMs.
“It should be enough for Obama to know that Iran still calls America the ‘Great Satan,’” Cruz insisted.
He argued the Obama administration determination to befriend the Iranian Islamic Regime has put Israel in danger, with the prospect of Iran developing nuclear weapons with impunity.
“The weakness of the Obama administration is provocative to Iran just as it is to Russia,” he said. “Under Putin, Russia has become a petro-dictatorship, joining Iran in its dependence on oil revenue for economic strength.”
Cruz urged Obama to take a page out of Reagan’s playbook, using the United States current surge in oil production to depress oil prices worldwide in an effort to weaken economically both Russia and Iran.
It’s a strategy Reagan used in the 1980s to topple the Soviet Union, Cruz noted.
“It was no accident Iran returned the U.S. Embassy hostages on the day when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated,” he said, “when President Jimmy Carter had gone through 444 days being unable to make any progress.”
