While other potential presidential candidates were shaking hands and kissing babies in Iowa and New Hampshire last weekend, former governor George Pataki (R-N.Y.) was discussing foreign policy at Georgetown.
Pataki, who served as governor of New York for 12 years before leaving office earlier this month, challenged the direction the Bush administration has taken in the war in Iraq during a speech Friday morning in Copley Formal Lounge. He criticized President Bush’s proposal, announced earlier this month, to send an additional 20,000 U.S. troops to Iraq.
“President Bush has called for over 20,000 more American troops, largely to help create stability in Baghdad. But is this realistic? Will this alone bring lasting peace? By any reasonable view, the answer is no,” Pataki said.
Pataki, who gained national visibility in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, repeatedly cited terrorism as a chief concern in formulating Iraq policy. He said that the United States, having removed the Taliban regime from Afghanistan in 2002, must prevent Iraq from becoming a hotbed of terrorist activity.
“We must deny al Qaeda a safe haven in post-Saddam Iraq to replace the recruitment and training camps we expelled them from in Afghanistan,” Pataki said.
The former governor outlined a four-point plan for U.S. policy in Iraq that included more oil revenue sharing, a process to allow former Baath Party political extremists to recover civil rights, a strengthening of the Iraqi army and greater enforcement against insurgents.
Pataki also said that he supports a time frame for the phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, but he declined to offer specific dates.
Pataki called for a moderate approach to Iraq that could appeal to a wide range of Americans.
“Democrats, generally, oppose a troop surge. The president deems it essential. Let us do what Americans in tough times always do – find common ground,” Pataki said.
Although he has yet to decide whether or not to seek the Republican nomination in 2008, Pataki trails GOP frontrunners in most polls. The speech at Georgetown was only his second public speech since leaving office and one of his first public statements on foreign policy.
Among possible candidates, however, Pataki has had a difficult time establishing a core group of supporters. Two other New Yorkers, Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and former New York City ayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, are considered strong contenders for their parties’ nominations. Even current mayor Michael Bloomberg (R-N.Y.) has garnered some attention as a possible independent candidate.
Giuliani was in New Hampshire over the weekend while Clinton visited Iowa. New Hampshire and Iowa are the first states in the primary campaign and considered by many to be the most important.
Georgetown Government Professor Stephen Wayne, who has written numerous books about the presidency, said that Pataki’s chances of winning the Republican nomination are slim.
“He probably doesn’t have a particularly good chance, particularly with Giuliani running, and Giuliani is probably better known than Pataki.”
Wayne said that Pataki’s speech may have been a strategic maneuver to position himself as a candidate.
“One of the reasons you would [give such a speech] is to get publicity and to put a statement on the record on one of the most salient issues facing a presidential candidate,” he said.
