Fareed Zakaria, a CNN host and an authority on foreign affairs among the political elite, thinks Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul is right on foreign policy.
Writing in the Washington Post on Thursday, Zakaria said Paul’s critics, mostly other Republicans who say the Kentucky senator’s foreign policy positions are too passive, are wrong to dismiss his ideas as “dangerous” and “isolationist.”
“I have read Paul’s proposals and speeches on foreign policy. There are some bloopers, odd comments and rhetorical broadsides, but for the most part his views are intellectually serious and well within a tradition of what he (correctly) calls conservative realism,” Zakaria wrote. “They are also politically courageous. Paul has taken positions and cited authorities that are deeply unpopular with his own party. Yes, of course, he craves publicity and engages in stunts. What politician doesn’t? But what makes his opponents most uncomfortable is the substance, not the style.”
Paul’s position against some federal anti-terrorism policies and escalation of U.S. presence in the Middle East have often been characterized by his presidential competitors as misguided.
Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is running for president, recently said it would be “devastating” for the GOP to nominate Paul for president.
In his Post column, Zakaria said Paul’s ideas deserve credit from both Republicans and Democrats.
“[I]n the arena of national security, he has time and again raised important, inconvenient questions, only to have them ruled out of order and to be told that he is a crank, far outside the mainstream,” he wrote. “In fact, it would be useful and important for Republicans — and Democrats — to stop the name-calling and actually discuss and debate his ideas.”
Paul has also seen support for his foreign policy positions from Matt Drudge, editor of the influential Drudge Report, and the New York Times editorial board.
