Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) discussed President Barack Obama’s foreign policy shortcomings last week during the weekly GOP address, saying the United States always seems "to be a step behind, a day late, and a dollar short."
McCain’s first example of this was the collapsing peace talks in Syria. He said not only is America the center of multiple collapsing peace talks but if the talks fail, ISIS will grow stronger from another vacuum left behind by the turmoil and political disorder.
"Under this administration, we’ve been on a holiday from American leadership," he said. "Too often, President Obama has adopted a cheap fatalism about America’s role in the world. No matter the challenge, we’re told that there are no good options, that our influence is limited, that we will not succeed overnight, that there is no military solution, and that we can’t solve every problem. These are truisms, but none of them absolve us of our responsibility to make the situation better where we can. And the results of our failure to do so are clear to see."
He noted that the United States has had some tactical and operational gains on ISIS, but overall, the country is falling short when it comes to strategy on how to systematically defeat the terrorist group. Moreover, McCain said that we are seeing the same warning signs that we saw in Afghanistan on Sept. 10, 2001.
"With thousands of terrorists and training camps, and reports of external attack plotting in that country, we see all the warning signs that existed in Afghanistan on September 10, 2001," he said.
McCain also discussed Russia, China, and the situation in the Middle East. He said that despite the Middle East descending into chaos, Obama justifies pulling out U.S. involvement by telling the public that this is a regional problem and our interests are not threatened. He further said that Obama has tried to convince the public that the problem can be contained in the Middle East.
"President Obama’s failed policies of the last seven years have placed us in a tragic rut once described by Winston Churchill: ‘Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong—these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.’"
McCain closed by quoting Ronald Reagan, highlighting the need for an America that shows peace through strength.
"President Reagan was fond of saying that America has never faced a problem because it was too strong. That’s how he won the Cold War without firing a shot. The threats America faces have changed since then, but the need for American strength is the same as it ever was."