Presidential Candidate Quote Archive - Diplomacy
Quotes by Candidate:
Senator Joseph Biden:
Biden, NPR Debate: December 4, 2007 - Link
Clarity. Prevention, not preemption. An absolute repudiation of this president’s doctrine which has only three legs on the stool. One, push the mute button, don’t talk to anybody. Two, preemption. And three, regime change…I would reject all three. We need a doctrine of prevention. The role of a great power is to prevent the crises.
Biden, NPR Debate: December 4, 2007 - Link
And we don’t have to imagine any of the crises. We know what’s going to happen on day one when you’re president. You have Pakistan, Russia, China, the subcontinent of India. You have Afghanistan. You have Darfur. And it requires engagement, engagement and prevention. That does not rule out the use of force. It incorporates the notion of prevention. Prevention.
Biden, Center for US Global Engagement in New Hampshire, November 8th - Link
Biden: “I'm proud to stand with this organization because of what they stand for. We have a common vision for the future. It's the vision of an America that embraces the power of its example as well as the example of its power. It's the vision of an America that recaptures the totality of its strength.”
Senator Hillary Clinton:
Clinton, Compassion Forum: April 13, 2008 - Link
You know, I really appreciated President Bush after the tsunami struck, asking his father and my husband to represent the United States and our concern for the people who have been devastated. And, yes, the military was there delivering supplies. That sent a loud message and it was resonating throughout South Asia -- in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world. America's favorability rose dramatically because we were seen as caring and compassionate toward those with whom we had very little contact or, in fact, some, you know, level of distrust previously. So I think we have to concentrate first and foremost on restoring our moral authority in the world and our standing in the world. And there are lots of ways that the United States military can be helpful and can show the better face of America. After the Pakistan earthquakes, we sent in military teams to help people. So I think that is my emphasis right now.
Clinton, Democratic Debate: January 31, 2008 - Link
we need to start diplomatic efforts immediately, getting the Iranians, the Syrians, and others to the table. It's in their interest, it's in our interest, and it certainly is in the Iraqis' interest. few debates ago -- we've had so many of them -- to join with me on legislation which he has agreed to do that's very important to prevent President Bush from committing our country to an ongoing presence in Iraq. That is something he is trying to push.
Clinton, Democratic Debate: January 31, 2008 - Link
I believe in coercive diplomacy. I think that you try to figure out how to move bad actors in a direction that you prefer in order to avoid more dire consequences. And if you took it on the face of it and if you took it on the basis of what we hoped would happen with the inspectors going in, that in and of itself was a policy that we've used before. We have used the threat of force to try to make somebody change their behavior. I think what no one could have fully appreciated is how obsessed this president was with this particular mission. And unfortunately, I and others who warned at the time, who said, let the inspectors finish their work, you know, do not wage a preemptive war, use diplomacy, were just talking to a brick wall.
Clinton, NPR Debate: December 4, 2007 - Link
I have for two years advocated diplomatic engagement with Iran, and I think that’s what the president should do. He should seize this opportunity and engage in serious diplomacy, using both carrots and sticks.
Clinton, NPR Debate: December 4, 2007 - Link
It will be a doctrine of restoring America’s leadership and moral authority through multilateral organizations, through attempts to come to agreements on issues ranging from global warming to stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other dangerous weapons…It will be a doctrine that demonstrates that the United States is not afraid to cooperate; that through cooperation in our inter-dependent world, we actually can build a stronger country and a stronger world that will be more reflective of our values.
Clinton, Democratic Debate in Las Vegas: November 15, 2007 - Link
But what I think is most important is that we have aggressive diplomacy with Iran.
Clinton, Speech at the Iowa Jefferson Jackson dinner. November 10, 2007. - Link
And finally, we believe that our country is both great and good. And as president, I will end the war in Iraq, end the era of cowboy diplomacy and restore America's standing and leadership in the world.
Clinton, Discussing Iran Policy September 25, 2007 - Link
We need a much more vigorous and robust and deep engagement.
Clinton, Speech at the Center for New American Security: June 27, 2007 - Link
We have to be both internationalists and realists. We have to renew those alliances around the world, around a common set of goals including combating genocide, expanding human rights, promoting reconciliation through diplomacy, stopping nuclear proliferation, and addressing global warming. We have to realize that we are in the middle of a sectarian civil war in Iraq and that it is well past time to start withdrawing our troops in the middle of that war. And we must also realize that the global threat of terror demands that we secure our home front, take on the terrorist networks abroad, and combat a false doctrine of hate, death and destruction.
Clinton, Speech at the Center for New American Security: June 27, 2007 - Link
Every challenge we face begins with the biggest challenge: restoring our leadership by once again valuing alliances, respecting our values, and understanding that American strength is more than just a show of force.
Clinton, Quotation from Website: 2007 - Link
We know we need global coalitions to tackle global problems like climate change, poverty, AIDS, and terrorism. And to keep our country safe, we need to start engaging our enemies again. During the Cold War, with missiles pointed at us, we never stopped talking to the Soviet Union. That didn't mean we agreed with them or approved of them. But it did mean we came to understand them -- and that was crucial to confronting the threats they posed.
Senator Chris Dodd:
Dodd, Speech at the Des Moines Center for Citizen Diplomacy: April 11, 2007 - Link
We don’t need a surge of troops in Iraq – we need a surge of diplomacy and politics. Every knowledgeable person who has examined the Iraq situation for the past several years—Baker and Hamilton, senior military officials, junior officers—has drawn the same conclusion--there is no military solution in Iraq.
Dodd, Speech at the Des Moines Center for Citizen Diplomacy: April 11, 2007 - Link
If we choose unilateralism in 2008, then the answer is "no" – no, because policies that isolate America have time and again failed to shape our future for the better. Should the American people choose a second path—one of bold engagement in the world—then I believe the 21st Century can be a century of optimism and opportunity.
Senator John Edwards:
Edwards, NPR Debate: December 4, 2007 - Link
And the key to that is for America both through our actions and through our language from the president of the United States to demonstrate that we respect people who grow up in different cultures with different faith beliefs, that we respect people who have a different perspective than we do and we intend to lead , but to work with those people, and for America, whereas education, health, et cetera, to meet its responsibility to humanity.
Edwards, A New Strategy for Iran Speech: November 5, 2007. - Link
We already know diplomacy can work with even the toughest foes. The few foreign policy successes of the Bush Administration have come through the diplomacy it derides. Both North Korea and Libya have given up their struggle for weapons of mass destruction. While we need to keep the pressure on to make sure these countries keep their promises, the progress so far shows what can be accomplished in Iran.
Edwards, A New Strategy for Iran Speech: November 5, 2007. - Link
This strategy will keep America and our allies safe -- while showing the world we are once again a strong country that can always win war, but that prefers peace over war. Most importantly, it will restore our legitimacy in the eyes of the world. Everyone knows we're powerful. The question is what we use our power for -- and whether the rest of the world will once again see us as a force for good, rather than the bully we've become under Bush.
Edwards, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
When it comes to reengaging with the world, there is no task more critical than restoring our moral leadership. We must begin to create a world in which the despair that breeds radical terrorism is overwhelmed by the hope that comes with universal education, democracy, and economic opportunity. By exercising this sort of leadership, we can transform a generation of potential enemies into a generation of friends.
Edwards, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
We also need to renew our commitment to engagement and diplomacy in order to solve problems before they occur, rather than scrambling to deal with crises after they have erupted. With engagement comes far greater knowledge and the potential for progress and even trust. Presidents Kennedy and Reagan talked with Soviet leaders at the height of the Cold War, in both cases turning back major threats to our national security. We need to do the same with Iranian and North Korean leaders.
Edwards, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
In the new century, a number of emerging or already major powers will pose new challenges to the United States. We will have to continue integrating rising powers into a peaceful international system by convincing them that they can both benefit from and contribute to the system's strength. This means adapting our most important international leadership organizations, such as the G-8, to include these new major players. We must also strive to maintain our strong partnerships with longtime allies, including the United Kingdom, Japan, and the transforming European Union, as well as work to rebuild the long-neglected relationships with our neighbors throughout Latin America. Finally, we must stand by our ally and partner Israel, ensuring its security while doing everything in our power to bring peace and stability to the region.
Edwards, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
In the coming years, China's influence and importance will only continue to grow. On issues such as trade, climate change, and human rights, our overarching goal must be to get China to commit to the rules that govern the conduct of nations.
Edwards, Speech at Council on Foreign Relations: May 23, 2007 - Link
In his Nobel acceptance speech, General Marshall said that military power was "too narrow a basis on which to build a dependable, long-enduring peace." As the Marshall Plan demonstrated, the military is only a means to an end; it is only one instrument of our power. It must work alongside—and reinforce—America's moral leadership.
Rudy Giuliani:
Giuliani, YouTube Debate: November 28, 2007 - Link
Well, the most important thing to do is to make certain we remain on offense against Islamic terrorism. And -- and then make it clear that what that means is this is a small group of people -- Islamic terrorists -- who have defiled a great religion; that the vast majority of people who are Islamic, the vast majority of people who are Arab, the vast majority of people living in these countries are good people. We should be trading with them, we should have contact with them, we should expand our contacts with them.
Giuliani, YouTube Debate: November 28, 2007 - Link
We should have cultural exchanges with them. The night of September 11th, 2001 when we were beginning to recover -- or not really recover, but maybe just first catch our breath after the attack of September 11th, you'll see one of the first things I said was -- I said to the people of my city and then probably to the people of America that we should not engage in group blame. We shouldn't do the thing that we're being attacked for. We shouldn't blame an entire group of people for the horrible acts of a few people who have distorted a great religion, and they've turned it into an ideology of hatred and an ideology of violence.
Giuliani, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
A primary goal for our diplomacy -- whether directed toward great powers, developing states, or international institutions -- must be to strengthen the international system, which most of the world has a direct interest in seeing function well. After all, the system helps keep the peace and provide prosperity.… Transnational terrorists and other rogue actors have difficulty operating where the state system is strong, and they flourish where it is weak. This is the reason they try to exploit its weaknesses.
Giuliani, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
We should therefore work to strengthen the international system through America's relations with other great powers, both long established and rising. We should regard no great power as our inherent adversary.
Giuliani, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
America has been most successful as a world leader when it has used strength and diplomacy hand in hand. To achieve a realistic peace, U.S. diplomacy must be tightly linked to our other strengths: military, economic, and moral.
Giuliani, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
To this end, the Voice of America program must be significantly strengthened and broadened. Its surrogate stations, such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, which were so effective at inspiring grass-roots dissidents during the Cold War, must be expanded as well. Our entire approach to public diplomacy and strategic communications must be upgraded and extended, with a greater focus on new media such as the Internet. We confront multifaceted challenges in the Middle East, the Pacific region, Africa, and Latin America. In all these places, effective communication can be a powerful way of advancing our interests. We will not shy away from any debate. And armed with honest advocacy, America will win the war of ideas.
Giuliani, Quotation taken from NYTimes blog: August 1, 2007 - Link
We have got to change the nature of how we communicate. We have got to go back to the Cold War, Ronald Reagan era of the voice of America, a State Department that’s communicating…. I want to go on the offense. I want the people in the State Department to see themselves as advocates for America, so that when America is maligned on a television station in a country, let’s not pick on any one country, in a country, the American ambassador is on television, the State Department officials are on television, they’re in the newspapers, on radio, explaining that America is a good country…
Giuliani, Transcript from the Charlie Rose Show: August 1, 2007 - Link
America’s reputation around the world is mixed… I have been exposed to what is America’s reputation. I have defended it in front of audiences as small as ten and as large as 10,000 at times, and it’s mixed…We have got to change the nature of how we communicate.
Governor Mike Huckabee:
Huckabee, Foreign Affairs Article: January/February 2008 - Link
As president, my goal in the Arab and Muslim worlds will be to calibrate a course between maintaining stability and promoting democracy. It is self-defeating to attempt too much too soon: doing so could mean holding elections that the extremists would win. But it is also self-defeating to do nothing. We must first destroy existing terrorist groups and then attack the underlying conditions that breed them: the lack of basic sanitation, health care, education, jobs, a free press, fair courts -- which all translates into a lack of opportunity and hope. The United States' strategic interests as the world's most powerful country coincide with its moral obligations as the richest. If we do not do the right thing to improve life in the Muslim world, the terrorists will step in and do the wrong thing.
Huckabee, Foreign Affairs Article: January/February 2008 - Link
Another way to contain Iran is through diplomacy. We must be as aggressive diplomatically as we have been militarily since 9/11. We must intensify our diplomatic efforts with China, India, Russia, South Korea, and European states and persuade them to put more economic pressure on Iran. These countries have been far more interested in pursuing profit than preventing proliferation. They must realize that if the United States does end up taking military action, they will bear some responsibility for having failed to maximize peaceful options.
Huckabee, Foreign Affairs Article: January/February 2008 - Link
Before we put boots on the ground elsewhere, we had better have wingtips there first.
Huckabee, Quote in the Des Moines Register: December 4, 2007 - Link
The Des Moines Register reports that Huckabee said at a campaign stop yesterday, "I would like us to restore relationships and rebuild the kind of positive attitudes people have historically had toward our nation and do that by showing the kind of respect that other nations would want and deserve," the former Arkansas governor said.
Huckabee, Speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: September 28, 2007 - Link
I know that’s an oversimplification, but I do believe that it explains, somewhat, of the situation that we face as a nation, in that our prestige in the world has been marred not so much because we’re a superpower. We are; we shouldn’t apologize for it, nor should we weaken ourselves in any capacity. But the matter in which we handle our power is critical. And the more that we can do not to weaken ourselves, but to strengthen our neighbors, and to give them encouragement, rather than simply to show them our muscle, is an important part of rebuilding America’s national prestige.
Huckabee Speech at CSIS: September 28, 2007 - Link
Another way to contain Iran is through diplomacy, while never taking the military option off the table. We have to be as diplomatically aggressive as we have been militarily aggressive since 9/11. We need to intensify our diplomatic efforts with Europe, Russia, China, South Korea, and India to put more economic pressures on Iran. If we end up taking military action, they will be responsible for failing to maximize the peaceful options and alternatives. So far, they’ve been far more interested in maintaining their trade relationships and making money.
Huckabee, Quotation from Website: 2007 - Link
While I prefer America to be safe and secure within her own borders rather than loved and appreciated abroad, I believe we can accomplish both goals. We can resurrect relationships with our allies and neighbors. With a focus on renewed diplomacy and inclusion, we can accomplish the goals of our nation without having to go it alone.
Representative Dennis Kucinich:
Kucinich, Democratic Debate on CNN: July 23, 2007 - Link
I say we achieve strength through peace. That's the new doctrine that I'm going to promote throughout this campaign; that we'll use the science of human relations and diplomacy; that we pursue an approach which says that you can use international agreements and treaties; and that you can work to settle your differences without committing the young men and women to war, unless it's absolutely necessary.
Senator John McCain:
McCain, Foreign Affairs article: November/December 2007 - Link
Today, understanding foreign cultures is not a luxury but a strategic necessity. As president, I will launch a crash program in civilian and military schools to prepare more experts in critical languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, and Pashto. Students at our service academies should be required to study abroad. I will enlarge the military's Foreign Area Officer program and create a new specialty in strategic interrogation in order to produce more interrogators who can obtain critical knowledge from detainees by using advanced psychological techniques, rather than the kind of abusive tactics properly prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
McCain, Speech to the Des Moines Embassy Club: October 24, 2007.
With our Arab allies, we must change Syria's calculus in ways that lead it to judge its regional interests differently than it has in recent years. We can do so not through unilateral concessions or unconditional negotiation which minimize our influence but rather by presenting a new package of carrots and sticks. Working with our European allies, this would involve substantial pressures on Damascus should it continue down its present course, including closing down its access to the international banking network, and but also leave open the prospect of closer economic and political ties should Syria pursue a path of reform, make peace with Israel, and end all support for terror.
McCain, Speech to the Hudson Institute: September 27, 2007 - Link Even as we increase our military capacity, we must also increase our civilian capacity so that an undue burden does not again fall on our soldiers as it has in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the civilian agencies of our government have too often been missing in action. The State Department and other agencies need to enhance their ability to send more experts to rebuild war-torn lands - or, better still, bolster peaceful development to reduce the chances of war breaking out in the first place.
McCain, Speech to the Hudson Institute: September 27, 2007 - Link
As president, I would revitalize our public diplomacy. In 1998, the Clinton Administration and we in Congress agreed to abolish the United States Information Agency and put its public diplomacy functions inside the State Department. This was a mistake. Dismantling an agency dedicated to promoting America's message amounted to unilateral disarmament in the struggle of ideas. Communicating our government's views on day-to-day issues is what the State Department does. But communicating the idea of America, our purpose, our past and our future is a different task. We need to re-create an independent agency with the sole purpose of getting America's message to the world - a critical element in combating Islamic extremism. The cold war was won not with a tank battle in the Fulda Gap, but by winning the hearts and minds of the people that democracy was better than communism. And so it must be in our struggle with Islamic extremism. We must win this war by convincing the world that freedom is better than rule by terror.
McCain, Speech at the Hoover Institution: May 1, 2007 - Link
I will have much more to say about this in the future but our needs are clear in the organization, skills, and capabilities needed to prevail in the conflict with violent extremists: an intelligence community that is able to collect and analyze information on and conduct operations against our enemies; a public diplomacy effort that makes our case to the world effectively; a diplomatic corps that understands stability' does not mean supporting dictatorships; foreign aid programs that foster good governance….
Senator Barack Obama:
Obama, Democratic Debate: January 31, 2008 - Link
And that -- and I say that not just to look backwards, but also to look forwards, because I think what the next president has to show is the kind of judgment that will ensure that we are using our military power wisely. It is true that I want to elevate diplomacy so that it is part of our arsenal to serve the American people's interests and to keep us safe. And I have disagreed with Senator Clinton on, for example, meeting with Iran. I think, and the national intelligence estimate, the last report suggested that if we are meeting with them, talking to them, and offering them both carrots and sticks, they are more likely to change their behavior. And we can do so in a way that does not ultimately cost billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and hurt our reputation around the world.
Obama, 'A Call to Serve' Speech: December 5, 2007 - Link
To restore America's standing, I will call on our greatest resource - not our bombs, guns, or dollars - I will call upon our people. We will grow the Foreign Service to renew our commitment to diplomacy. We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011. And we'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity.
Obama, Forum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire: November 26, 2007 - Link
We need a President who is willing to talk to all nations - friend and foe…Not talking doesn't make us look tough, it makes us look arrogant, and makes it harder to get international support.
Obama, Forum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire: November 26, 2007 - Link
Present Iran with a clear choice - stop their disturbing behavior and there will be political and economic incentives; continue doing what they're doing, and we will ratchet up the pressure. And we'll be in a much stronger position to get the kind of international support that we need to pressure Iran if we go the extra mile diplomatically.
Obama, Forum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire: November 26, 2007 - Link
We need an education system that encourages the study of foreign languages and countries. We need a career path for young people to reinvigorate our diplomatic sector. We should have a civilian core that is as effective in what they do as the military is at what it does.
Obama, Forum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire: November 26, 2007 - Link
If you want to get to a know a country, you can’t parachute in. Iraq and Iran are examples of how we are isolated from these countries but are making a series of decisions basically in the blind. That is dangerous for us. Then, if we do have to engage in military action, we are putting our military in peril because we are unable to make good decisions.
Obama, speech at DePaul University October 2, 2007 - Link
This will require a new era of American diplomacy. To signal the dawn of that era, we need a President who is willing to talk to all nations, friend and foe. I'm not afraid that America will lose a propaganda battle with a petty tyrant - we need to go before the world and win those battles. If we take the attitude that the President just parachutes in for a photo-op after an agreement has already been reached, then we're only going to reach agreements with our friends. That's not the way to protect the American people. That's not the way to advance our interests.
Obama , Speech at DePaul University: Oct 2, 2007 - Link
Just look at our history. Kennedy had a direct line to Khrushchev. Nixon met with Mao. Carter did the hard work of negotiating the Camp David Accords. Reagan was negotiating arms agreements with Gorbachev even as he called on him to “tear down this wall.”
Obama , Speech at DePaul University: Oct 2, 2007 - Link
It’s time to make diplomacy a top priority. Instead of shuttering consulates, we need to open them in the tough and hopeless corners of the world. Instead of having more Americans serving in military bands than the diplomatic corps, we need to grow our foreign service. Instead of retreating from the world, I will personally lead a new chapter of American engagement.
Obama, Democratic Debate in Iowa: August 19, 2007 - Link
And it is my belief that we need a fundamental change if we're going to dig ourselves out of the hole that George Bush has placed us in. And that's going to require the kind of aggressive diplomacy -- preparation, yes, but aggressive diplomacy, the personal diplomacy of the next president -- to transform how the world sees us. That is ultimately going to make us safer.
Governor Bill Richardson:
Richardson, Foreign Affairs Article: January/February 2008 - Link
We should support democracies and democrats around the world, but we should give up on the failed policy of promoting democracy at gunpoint. We must recognize that democratization is a complicated, difficult, long-term project. It took decades or centuries for today's democracies to consolidate themselves. I believe that all nations would benefit from democracy, but we need to recognize that democratization does not happen overnight, especially in nations with deep ethnic or religious divisions or weak civil societies.
Richardson, Speech from Impact '08 in New Hampshire Event, November 8, 2007 - Link
The challenges that the world faces now are transnational: jihadism, terrorism, disease, climate change, our dependence on foreign oil. I believe that our foreign policy needs to employ our smart power tools – diplomacy, development, and making use of America's moral leadership - to confront these issues.
Richardson, Speech at UCLA: October 24, 2007. - Link
I know such direct engagement can work. I've sat down with Fidel Castro and negotiated the release of Cuban political prisoners. The Organization of American States has asked me to serve as special envoy for hemispheric affairs -- to help renew relations with our friends and restart talks with our foes. Only serious dialogue on issues such as immigration and trade can lead to serious solutions and a serious relationship with Latin America.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
We know that poverty and overpopulation affect us all. Refugee crises. Pandemic diseases. Climate change. Environmental degradation. Resource Depletion. Ethnic and political instability. These are not just the problems of individual nations. They are the problems of an interdependent world.These threats are insidious. They may take decades to develop. And they respect no borders. Problems that span time and continents can only be solved through coordinated and cooperative global efforts.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
The world is looking to America for leadership. We cannot fail. Americans are a generous people, and a courageous people. We rescued Europe from fascism, and generations from despair. Our farms have been the breadbasket to the world, and our scientists have saved millions of lives through such discoveries as antibiotics and the polio vaccine. And we are the nation that lit the fire of human freedom.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
Stimulating small-scale business in poor countries is essential. And we know what works. Clearly, we should focus more resources on micro-lending. The Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has shown us the way. A 50 dollar loan can sometimes do more good than a million dollars when you make sure it gets to the right place.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
First, I will make the U.S. the world leader in the fight against global poverty. We must have the resolve to honor our UN Millennium goal commitments. And we must have the audacity to demand that others meet theirs. A Commission on the Implementation of Sustainable Devel¬opment Goals, composed of world leaders and prominent experts, should be created to help all countries realize their Millennium commitments. When I am President, the United States will again lead on debt relief, and shifting aid from loans to grants. We will focus on primary health care and affordable vaccines.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
Consider the health of humankind. Over the past 35 years we've seen the emergence of more than thirty new incurable and infectious diseases, such as AIDS and Ebola. At the same time, older pathogens -- malaria, cholera, tuberculosis and many others -- have become more resistant to treatment. They are spreading with a vengeance. Malaria alone takes a human life every thirty seconds -- most of them children. And disease disproportionately strikes those with the least resources to fight back. More than a billion people survive on less than a dollar a day, and nearly half of the world's 2 billion children live in poverty.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
The first momentous step will be to partner with developed nations, the UN, non-profit organizations, and private sector companies, to create a Marshall Plan for the 21st Century. We need a massive, multilateral effort to assist the developing world in eliminating poverty, protecting the environment, combating pandemics, conserving water supplies, and stimulating economic opportunity.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
We need to focus also on education in developing nations. 115 million of the world's children -- 60% of them girls -- do not receive any schooling. In too many countries, a virtual apartheid exists, where women are frozen out of the workforce and civic life. Unleashing the economic power of women through education can be the silver bullet that makes every problem easier to fight. The ONE Campaign is asking the United States to double our development assistance to 2% of our federal budget. I wholeheartedly support this goal, and as President I will work to make it a reality.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
The US also must step up our efforts in the fight against global disease. I have proposed unprecedented increases in medical research. One of the great contributions the United States has made, should make, and will make again when I am President ... is to discover new cures to humanity's great afflictions. Cancer, heart disease, malaria, AIDS, TB -- all can and must be defeated.
Richardson, Speech at Radio Iowa: October 18, 2007 - Link
Religion today too often tears us apart. But poverty is a case where every single religion on the face of the planet should be able to unite. I refuse to believe that there is a person on this Earth that is not disgusted by the fact that a child born in Swaziland can only expect to live half as long as a child born in the United States. If we cannot lead global action based on this universal agreement, then we are not worthy of the great traditions of human dignity upon which this nation was founded.
Richardson, Press Release: August 24, 2007 - Link
“Anyone with a heart cares about Darfur -- anyone with a conscience must and should care about this suffering. America cares -- it is the current administration that hasn't lived up to America's tradition of compassion. I've been saying for months we must keep the pressure on China, Russia and Sudan. We can resolve this crisis through diplomacy, just as we should have done with Iraq -- our kids don't need to be sent into the middle of a civil war. Only when US foreign policy is based on our American principles will the world again respect American leadership and only then will we have the credibility to stop international crises and humanitarian disasters. "
Richardson, Press Release: August 24, 2007 - Link
“We need someone with an international record of accomplishments to rebuild strong American international leadership to keep Americans safe. I am prepared to stand up to the GOP on national security because I've been there and done it. I've been in the negotiating rooms. I've faced the dictators. I've brought hostages and service men home. I've broken an impasse on North Korean nuclear facilities. I was instrumental in bringing the North Koreans to the table and getting this deal to shut down the nuclear reactor in place. I've got more international experience than the all GOP candidates combined."
Richardson, Speech at the Center for National Policy: June 27, 2007 - Link
We need to stop treating diplomatic engagement with others like a reward for good behavior. The Bush administration’s refusal to engage obnoxious regimes has only encouraged and strengthened their most paranoid and hard-line tendencies. The futility of this policy is most tragically obvious in regard to Iran and North Korea, who responded to Washington’s snubs and threats with intensification of their nuclear programs.
Richardson, Speech at the Center for National Policy: June 27, 2007 - Link
We must do the hard diplomatic work to unite the world, including Russia and China, to contain the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, as we provide these nations with incentives and face-saving ways to renounce nuclear weapons.
Richardson, Article in the Harvard International Review: Summer 2007 - Link
First and foremost, the United States must repair its alliances. The United States cannot lead other nations toward solutions to shared problems if these other nations do not trust US leadership. US policymakers need to restore respect and appreciation for US allies and for shared democratic values in order to coordinate international efforts for global problems.
Richardson, Speech on New Realism: February 8, 2007 - Link
First and foremost, we must repair our alliances. This means restoring respect and appreciation for our allies, and for the democratic values which unite us. We must renew our commitment to international law and multilateral cooperation. This means expanding the Security Council to reflect international realities, and it means ethical reform at the UN, so that this vital institution can meet the challenges of the 21st century. It means more third world debt relief, and a World Bank focused on poverty-reduction. It means shifting aid from loans to grants for the poorest countries. It means reviving the Doha round of trade talks and seeking agreements which seriously address wage disparities, worker rights, and the environment. It means more resources for the IMF, so that it can protect the international economy from financial panics and shocks.
Richardson, Speech on New Realism: February 8, 2007 - Link
The United States once was – and again must be – a human rights example to which others aspire. We must be impeccable in our own behavior, and we must reward countries which respect the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. And we must negotiate, constructively but firmly, with those who do not.
Richardson, Speech on New Realism: February 8, 2007 - Link
We need to stop treating diplomatic engagement with others like a reward for good behavior. The Bush administration’s refusal to engage obnoxious regimes has only encouraged and strengthened their most paranoid and hard-line tendencies. The futility of this policy is most tragically obvious in regard to Iran and North Korea, who responded to Washington’s snubs and threats with intensification of their nuclear programs.
Richardson, Speech on New Realism: February 8, 2007 - Link
American leadership means talking even with regimes we don’t like, so that we can show them the real costs and benefits that will result from their choices. Sometimes diplomacy demands that you talk tough. But to do that, you have to at least be talking. We also need to engage Russia and China more effectively, strategically, and systematically than we have, as we encourage them to work with us to build a stable, peaceful world.
Governor Mitt Romney:
Romney, Press Release: August 21, 2007 - Link
Unilateral concessions to a dictatorial regime are counterproductive, helping to secure a succession of power and repression instead of a transition to freedom. They will only embolden those who cling to power at the expense of the Cuban people. We must not weaken our policy on Cuba until the Castro regime is dismantled, all political prisoners are freed and Cuba transitions to free and fair elections.
Romney, Article in Foreign Affairs: July 2007 - Link
We should also look for new ways to strengthen regional cooperation and security partnerships with responsible actors in order to confront challenges such as the genocide in Darfur. And if the UN Human Rights Council continues to be inactive or behave hypocritically, we should unite with nations that share our commitment to defending human rights in order to promote change.
Romney, Speech at Yeshiva University: April 26, 2007 - Link
And further, if I were fortunate enough to be elected your President, I'd call for a National Summit of Nations to create a new partnership - a Partnership for Hope and Prosperity. This Partnership would assemble the resources of all the nations of the world to work to assure that Islamic states that are threatened with violent jihad have public schools that are not Wahhabi madrases; that they have micro credit and banking, the rule of law, human rights, basic healthcare, and competitive economic practices.
Romney, Speech at the George Bush Presidential Library: April 10, 2007 - Link
Whether diplomatic, military, or economic, America is stronger when we have friends standing with us.
Senator Fred Thompson:
Thompson, Speech to the Policy Exchange in London: June 19, 2007 - Link
The United States and our European allies must begin to forge a new understanding that matches the times we live in. This must be an understanding based upon candor if we are to come closer to agreement as to the nature of the challenges we face. I have great hope for such a new understanding among NATO allies… Our efforts will require ongoing dialogue based upon mutual respect and mutual interests.
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