Rick Perry On War

For the first time since he made his announcement that he was running for President, Rick Perry has gone on record vis-à-vis his thoughts on going to war. He had to, I think, because the speech where his thoughts were revealed was delivered to the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Conveniently, they are meeting in San Antonio this year.

So I had to read his prepared remarks, which can be found here at his official governor’s website, and find out where he stands on going to war. And I got the surprise of my life. The surprise was that every one of his points were made by a previous candidate for President of the United States: Barack Obama.

• We should only risk shedding American blood and spending American treasure when our vital interests are threatened.
• And we should always look to build coalitions among the nations to protect the mutual interests of freedom-loving people.
• It is not in our interests to go it alone. We respect our allies, and must always seek to engage them in military missions.
• At the same time, we must be willing to act when it is time to act.
• We cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multi-lateral debating societies.
• And when our interests are threatened, American soldiers should be led by American commanders.

Every one of these statements was uttered, in different words, by candidate Obama.

Making me wonder just who Rick Perry is going to run against should he get the nomination next summer. All of his points are direct shots against his gubernatorial predecessor, George W. Bush. Every one of them. Making me wonder if because he is a neophyte when it comes to foreign policy he has conceded all foreign policy points to Democrats.

If he has, then that’s just fine with me.