Return to Camelot

A call for new directions was at the crux of the Center for a New American Security’s (CNAS) second annual June conference. At a session entitled “A New U.S. Grand Strategy”, panelists gathered to discuss their views on possible grand strategies to help America move forward.

Panelist Michele Flournoy, CNAS president and co-founder, said that the in-coming president will face a daunting national security situation. Presently, more than 350 thousand military personnel have been deployed overseas. Compounded to that, there is an increased threat in nuclear terrorism, severe global climate change and a greater power shift to countries such as India and China. In Flournoy’s opinion, now is the time to pivot from the legacy of the Cold War and to start thinking of security challenges in new ways. Since the Cold War, America has not had a grand strategy and so it must widen its strategic aperture and get back to fundamentals.

Derek Chollet, CNAS Senior Fellow, pointed out that 9/11 did not change everything but its mirror date 11/9, the fall of the Berlin wall that ended the Cold War, marked a time when America was most unified. He conceded that 9/11 did unify America for a while but the divisions of the 1990s are re-emerging in American society.

Panelists agreed that leaders should have contextual intelligence and not simply reuse past methods for similar current situations. The session felt it was time for the in-coming president to reclaim moral high ground and ‘export hope and optimism, not anger’ to the rest of the world.

Bush Administration's energy policy discussed

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman spoke today at a full committee hearing with the House Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee on oversight of the Bush Administration’s energy policy. Bodman discussed the actions that the Bush Administration has taken or hasn’t taken in energy independence issues in the past and what their plans are for the future.

The United States produces only about 3 percent of oil, yet uses 25 percent of the worlds oil. Members of the committee expressed concerns over the greater dependence on foreign oil and the national security threat that opens up for the United States. Bodman said that the Bush Administration recognizes that is a concern and is investing in alternative energy for solutions. The Administration is spending $45 billion towards alternative energy. However, according to one Congressman that $45 billion is what the United States spends in a few weeks in Iraq.

Members of the Committee stated that the Bush Administration was not looking for alternative energy solutions, by not using the strategic petroleum reserve, getting ethanol fuel at the pumps or helping to pass legislation to promote venture capitalist investment in the alternative energy market. Congressmen said the Administration should be urging scientific research and pushing the entrepreneurial industry to invest in creating alternative energy solutions.

Bodman suggested that President Bush not use the strategic petroleum reserve, which could lower the price of gas temporarily, but instead continue to work with Saudi Arabia to get them to produce more oil, which would in turn lower the price at the pump. Bodman also said that he would support the removal of the tariff on foreign ethanol, but declined to support or comment on various other forms of alternative energy like increasing wind farm productions, because he said they would not create immediate results.

New polls gage likely outcome of Election 2008

George Washington University held a conference call to release the findings of a new Battleground Poll that tested national attitudes on race, the economy, and the Iraq War in relation to the candidates involved in the 2008 presidential election.

Brian Nienaber, vice president of the Republican polling firm the Tarrance Group, said that with three out of four voters disapproving of the direction the country is headed, “you’d certainly be well-positioned to think that the Republican Party and its presidential nominee would be in a nearly hopeless position, even at this early stage in the electoral process.” He went on to enumerate what he believed to be presumed presidential nominee Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) strengths on issues like Iraq and national security, saying that he has his own “brand of change” to sell that will distance him from anti-incumbent sentiment without “repudiating” the Republican Party. Citing statistics from the poll analysis that support this, Nienaber said that 40 percent of Americans still believe the U.S. should maintain a presence in Iraq until military officials say it is safe to leave. He said that 56 percent of voters still like President Bush as a person, even if they do not approve of his Administration. Nienaber also cited the Democratic Party’s weaknesses, saying that 1 in 5 supporters of each major nominee did not plan to vote for the other if their candidate was not elected. Nienaber said that “as bad as things are right now,” the Republican Party can still look forward to “successes” in November.

Celinda Lake, president of the Democratic polling firm Lake Research Partners, said “there’s no question that there are enormous challenges to the Republican brand,” but that McCain is a “formidable candidate” that Democrats should not underestimate. However, she said that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is “overwhelmingly” winning over independent voters compared to McCain. Lake said that 87 percent of Democratic voters say that the Iraq war was not worth the cost, while 75 percent of Republicans still think it was. Lake also said that Republicans in Congress have even lower approval ratings than Bush, emphasizing the strength of voters motivated by a desire for a change of the party in power. While she said that the general presidential election “bodes well for the Obama ticket,” Lake maintained that “it’s not over until the fall.” She also said she thinks Obama can “bring home” Hillary supporters to the Democratic Party if he is the nominee.