War Children

[BeyondGeography]

61. Unlike Obama, Sanders has done little to take advantage of HRC's vulnerability here

Obama ran to her left on Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on reaching out to Iran and Cuba, and to her right on capturing bin Laden by any means necessary, even it meant stepping on Pakistan's toes. There was a lot of thought and consultation behind those views and they not only helped him at least neutralize a major perceived area of strength, the work served him well when he actually became President.

Bernie gets a lot of praise for his consistency on economic issues, but, in this campaign, he has accorded foreign policy little more than nuisance status. In fact, it's the area where a President makes the most impact and spends the most time. I have very little sense of what his priorities would be. I do know that when the topic has come up in debates, Sen. Clinton has run circles around him from the standpoint of basic knowledge. She gave him a major opening with the Kissinger reference, and he had some fun with that. Plus there is the IWR vote, which he has also used to his advantage. But he has been flat-footed. Last week's coddling of Netanyahu by HRC, which was met by another round of 40-year-old canned speeches on wealth in America, being yet another case in point.

Not that it would have made a difference in the eventual outcome, but Bernie kind of blew it here. He has forced his opponent to the left on domestic issues because that has been his focus. He has had zero impact on FP, because it really hasn't been on his radar.