US politics and Korea
By Tong Kim
President Barak Obama still has more than a year and five months left of his term, but the general mood of the American public treats him as a lame duck that cannot do much to turn around the country’s pessimistic state of affairs.
To be fair, Obama’s domestic and foreign policy performances fare well in general. Yet his Republican opponents strongly disagree, and many Democrats are disappointed.
The Obama Care hailed by Democrats as a landmark accomplishment for millions of uninsured Americans was painted as a spectacular failure of his domestic policy and the latest Iran deal as well as his military disengagement from Iraq as a major foreign policy blunders.
Republican presidential candidates ― all 17 of them ― are committed to repeal Obama Care and abrogate the Iranian deal if they are elected in 2016, even if the nuclear deal goes into effect because of a presidential veto.
Among most outstanding concerns, a national debt of $19 trillion and the share of the national budget for entitlements and debt service amounting to 71 percent are scary. Under this kind of financial structure, many are concerned how long this cycle of borrow and spend can continue. To resolve this problem, people talk about growth, jobs, deregulation, tax reform, small government, investment in education, and immigration reform.
Throughout recent American history, economic growth and job creation were achieved by the private sector’s productivity, competitiveness, and entrepreneurship in the stable domestic and international security environment that was largely protected by U.S. military power. A sequester imposed on military spending severely restricts the sustainability of the American military capability. Today there is hardly any global or regional security issue, for which the U.S. can go alone or handle alone, without the cooperation of allies and partners.
This situation calls for an enhanced role of diplomacy more than any time before. The State Department issues statements almost every day either to maintain or improve relations with allies and partners, to encourage good development, or to condemn acts of terrorism and human rights abuses around the world. The secretary of state and his people are traveling all the time to maintain U.S. leadership, which will have to depend less and less on military might.
The U.S. is already embroiled in the presidential race for 2016, although its primaries will not begin until next February and the general elections next fall. The 17 Republican candidates ― most of are governors and senators current and past ― have already had their first debate hosted by Fox News in Cleveland, Ohio on August 6. They will compete in a second debate to be sponsored by CNN in California on September 16.
While there was no clear winner from the first debate, Donald Trump, a real estate developer-mogul who has not held a public office, held the limelight. Contrary to many predictions, Trump remains the frontrunner in post-debate polls. His controversial exchange of unkind words with a popular female FOX News moderator and Trump’s uninhibited harsh comments about other Republicans did not affect his ratings.
The “Trump phenomenon” continues, and nobody knows how long it will last. It can be compared to the “Ahn Chul-soo phenomenon” that swept Korea during its last presidential election year. At the bottom of such a phenomenon lies voters’ distrust and discontent with establishment politicians on either side of the policy line.
Trump has refused to endorse the final Republican Party nominee, unless he will be the nominee. He said he would keep “leverage” including the possibility of running as an independent candidate, which Republicans say would guarantee “Hillary Clinton’s election”, as Ross Perot decisively contributed to Bill Clinton’s election in 1998.
In contrast, the Democratic Party has produced only a few candidates, including former first lady and former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose rating has been surpassed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in New Hampshire due to her problem of trust because of emails and other scandals. Senator Sanders proclaims himself as a social democrat ideologically left of Clinton on policy. Vice President Joe Biden has not made his decision for 2016. Clinton is still viewed as the most likely Democratic nominee.
By the time the primaries begin, the Republican field of candidates may be reduced to five or six, who would include: Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and a brother and son of former presidents; Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin; Senator Marco Rubio from Florida; John Kasich, governor of Ohio; Ben Carlson, a physician; Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas; Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas; and Donald Trump, a former entertainer, aggressive and abrasive, who despises “political correctness”.
On foreign policy, none of the Republican contenders supports the Iran deal negotiated by the Obama administration. None of them talks about Korea or the North Korean nuclear issue. Jeb Bush, who admitted that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was a mistake by his brother’s administration, gave a special foreign policy speech after the first debate, but did not discuss any other areas outside the Middle East.
American presidential debates are interesting and entertaining, attracting millions of viewers across the country. No candidate, Republican or Democrat, has so far presented a real plan or a vision for the U.S. to continue its global leadership from a re-enforced position of economic and military strength. So far, no candidate has talked about his or her policy towards the Asian region or the Korean Peninsula. What’s your take?
Tong Kim is a Washington correspondent and columnist for the Korea Times. He is also a fellow at the Institute of Korean-American Studies.