TULSI GABBARD SAYS SHE WANTS TO DEFEAT THE 'BUSH-CLINTON' DOCTRINE

Tulsi Gabbard says she wants to defeat the 'Bush-Clinton doctrine' on foreign policy

USA TODAY•October 31, 2019

 

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WASHINGTON – Hawaii Congresswoman and 2020 Democratic hopeful Tulsi Gabbard wrote in a recent op-ed that she is “running for president to undo Mrs. Clinton’s failed legacy” on foreign policy by defeating the “Bush-Clinton doctrine.”

She starts by writing, “Hillary Clinton emerged recently to claim, with no basis in fact, that I am being ‘groomed’ by the Russian government to undermine America.” 

Gabbard is referencing comments from Clinton that were initially erroneously reported as her saying Russians appeared to be "grooming" a Democratic candidate. Clinton actually suggested it was the Republicans who were "grooming" Gabbard.

Gabbard has continued to run with the statement and has used it as a way to rally supporters. She is now one poll away from qualifying for the November debate after polling at 4% in a recent national USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll. 

“This isn’t a petty ‘spat’ between Mrs. Clinton and me,” Gabbard said in the Wall Street Journal op-ed. “It’s a serious contrast in views about the choice voters face as they decide which Democratic candidate is best equipped to defeat President Trump. Mrs. Clinton already lost to Mr. Trump once. Why would Democrats think a Hillary 2.0 candidate would result in anything different?”

Gabbard writes that she is not an “isolationist” by wanting to withdraw America from global conflict, writing she would stop "trying to police the world," "overthrowing governments," and ending "the new Cold War and nuclear arms race."

She reiterated that, “Those who follow the Bush-Clinton doctrine believe the only way to interact with other nations is by bombing them or starving them with draconian sanctions.”

Some of Gabbard's foreign policy views have raised eyebrows during her run for president. After the August debate, Sen. Kamala Harris, who is also vying for the Democratic nomination, called Gabbard a Bashar al-Assad "apologist" and that she "can only take what (Gabbard) says in her opinion so seriously."

During a January 2017 trip to Syria, Gabbard met with Assad, the President of Syria. She said in February that "Assad is not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States." 

She also opposed President Barack Obama's request to use military force in response to Assad's use of chemical weapons against his people in 2013. 

Gabbard recently wrote of Clinton, "From Iraq to Libya to Syria, her record is replete with foreign-policy catastrophes."

"Only when we recognize the failings of the past — embodied by Mrs. Clinton and her minions in the media — can we move forward to a future of peace, dignity, transparency and aloha," she concluded.

Contributing: Rebecca Morin, Nicholas Wu

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tulsi Gabbard wants to defeat 'Bush-Clinton doctrine' foreign policy