Tulsi Gabbard’s 2020 Contribution Despite her affinity for Assad, she sometimes raises good questions.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tulsi-gabbards-2020-contribution-11548619003
The left is ascendant in the Democratic Party, as likely presidential candidates outdo each other with promises of free college, single-payer health care and a guaranteed income. Yet the party’s direction on foreign policy is still up for grabs, which makes Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s presidential bid more interesting.
Elizabeth Warren says “it’s time to create a foreign policy that works for all Americans,” whatever that means. Kamala Harris vows not to conduct international relations by tweet, while Kirsten Gillibrand promises the opposite of whatever President Trump does.
Ms. Gabbard is different in making foreign policy a focus. “There is one main issue that is central to the rest and that is the issue of war and peace,” said the four-term Hawaii Congresswoman, 37, in a recent CNN appearance announcing her candidacy. Her vision for a more limited American role in the world will be the campaign’s central theme.
First elected to the Hawaii House at 21, Ms. Gabbard steadily climbed the island’s political ranks. Along the way she joined the Hawaii Army National Guard and served in Iraq. She says her time in the military has made her more hesitant to support U.S. involvement abroad.
She is best, or worst, known for bringing the Aloha spirit to Damascus and meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in January 2017. She says she doesn’t regret the meeting and has since defended the Assad regime. This is part of a consistent skepticism regarding U.S. military missions from Africa to Afghanistan.
Ms. Gabbard opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership and has worked with libertarian Republicans on legislation to stop the U.S. from supporting Syrian rebels. Her ideas would make the world less safe and prosperous, but at least she doesn’t hide her isolationism as other Democrats do.
Ms. Gabbard’s biggest obstacle to winning the Democratic nomination may be her past as a social conservative, and she spent the first days after announcing for President apologizing for her previous opposition to same-sex marriage. She blamed it on her socially conservative father’s influence. A Bernie Sanders 2016 supporter, Ms. Gabbard now follows progressive orthodoxy on most domestic issues. A proponent of the Green New Deal, Ms. Gabbard has introduced legislation mandating 100% of U.S. energy generation come from renewable sources by 2035.
But her occasional heterodoxy might be useful in questioning some of the identity-politics excesses of other Democrats. In December Senators Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono criticized a judicial nominee’s membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic social and charity group. Ms. Gabbard, the first Hindu in Congress, wrote in the Hill newspaper that “no American should be asked to renounce his or her faith or membership in a faith-based, service organization in order to hold public office.” A Democratic primary debate moderator should ask whether other candidates agree.
Ms. Gabbard is a presidential longshot, but she’s more than a gadfly. She could be useful in helping voters cut through Democratic talking points to see what they really believe.
Comments are closed.
