Speaking of North Korea (see post below), several Democratic presidential candidates have been criticizing the increasingly negligent approach the Bush administration has taken to the peninsula. Not all of the candidates have, however, been entirely consistent.
Gov. Howard Dean, on the Jan. 5 episode of CBS’ “Face the Nation,” was asked a series of foreign policy questions, offering the governor an opportunity to outline his vision on world affairs, and make distinctions between his approach and that of the president. Dean took a hard line against President Bush’s handling of the conflict in Iraq, but was far more conciliatory on the burgeoning North Korea crisis.
“I concur with most of the president’s policy on North Korea,” Dean said, to the surprise of many Democrats and supporters who had criticized Bush’s approach. “We have substantial differences on Iraq, but I like the idea and I believe in the idea of multilaterals. And the president’s pursuing a policy in cooperation with the Chinese, the Russians, the South Koreans and the Japanese, which we ought to see bear fruition.”
Notice Dean’s choice of words. By “concur(ing) with most of the president’s policy” and concluding Bush’s approach “ought to…bear fruition,” it sure sounded like Dean was expressing approval of the president’s approach.
A month later, it sounded like the governor changed his mind without explanation. On a statement posted on his campaign website on Feb. 12, Dean criticized the “administration’s ineptness on the Korean Peninsula.” He described the president’s handling of North Korea as “incoherent, inconsistent and dangerously disengaged.”
“Instead of building on a process of dialogue with North Korea, fully supported by South Korea and other East Asian allies, the Administration essentially walked away from the region for almost two years,” Dean said. He expressed a similar sentiment a week later in a speech at Drake University.
The inconsistency of these statements is troubling. Dean “concurs” with the president’s policy, but he also believes it is “dangerous” and “incoherent”? Dean believes Bush “walked away” from the crisis “two years ago,” but he agreed with the administration’s policy one month ago? In light of Dean’s tendency to be the candidate who criticizes other Democrats for trying to have it both ways on foreign policy, this flip-flop makes him look both foolish and hypocritical.