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Center for Politics and Foreign Relations | Thinking About It

Thinking About It
January 4, 2007

Happy 2007!

This will be a busy and very interesting year in politics and foreign relations and our new Center on Politics and Foreign Relations at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies will be at the forefront of covering all the events – large and small – that will have an impact on all of us.

We will be updating our website on a regular basis – very soon we will have daily updates – with new reports and articles on all the possible presidential candidates in 2008 and their views on the issues of the day.  We will be posting our exclusive interviews with the candidates and their staffs, interviews with key analysts and interviews with the finance people on the campaigns and the people behind the scenes you would like to know more about as the campaign season progresses.

I have already interviewed Senator John Kerry and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack on their views on foreign policy, trade and business and economic issues that I will be putting on our website.  I will be interviewing all of the other presidential candidates and be putting their interviews on our CPFR website.

We will also be printing hard copy Political Profiles of all the candidates.  If interested in receiving these profiles just send me an email with your mailing address and I will put you on our mailing list. My email is rguttman@jhu.edu.  I look forward to hearing from you on this and other matters of interest to you on the campaign, politics and foreign relations.

I will be teaching a graduate course at Johns Hopkins SAIS this semester entitled: On the Campaign Trail: The 2008 Presidential Contest which will begin later this month if anyone is interested in taking the course.  It will be an independent study course.  If interested in taking the course please feel free to contact me.

We will be continuing our breakfast series with our partners the Financial Times and the Johns Hopkins School of Government having all of the possible 2008 presidential candidates as our guest speakers.  If interested in attending an upcoming breakfast with the candidates please let me know in an email and I will add you to our list of attendees which is made up mainly of international and national journalists and diplomats.

CPFR will have book reviews throughout the year with interviews with the authors of the books relating to politics and foreign relations and post these on our website.

We will also be hosting debates between the candidates this year and also hosting debates and point/counterpoint forums with campaign managers and political directors.

CPFR had CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer as our guest last year and we will continue to focus on having other well-known journalists and other media analysts as our guest speakers in 2007 and beyond.

CPFR will not forget politics and foreign relations in the rest of the world.  We will be writing about the presidential elections in France and the German presidency of the European Union which began this month.  We will be hosting a conference in April on U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East looking at all of the potential 2008 presidential candidates and their views on that volatile region.

Next summer I will be teaching a course on American foreign policy towards Europe at the Johns Hopkins SAIS campus in Bologna, Italy.

We are looking forward to a dynamic year at our new Center on Politics and Foreign Relations.  We appreciate any ideas or suggestions you might have on any of our upcoming projects and welcome any original thoughts you might have on how to make our new Center more informative, interesting, exciting and accessible for you.

Robert J. Guttman
Founder and Director, CPFR

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Thinking About It

September 11, 2008

Foreign Policy Focus: McCain and Obama

The 2008 presidential campaign began with one key foreign policy issue – Iraq.  The Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama, was seen by Democratic activist voters in the primaries and caucuses as being the most anti-war of the candidates.  This certainly was a key to his eventual success over Senator Hillary Clinton, who was not seen as being as anti-war in her views.  Obama could rightly say he was against American involvement in Iraq even before he became a United States Senator.  He has been for a timetable to bring U.S. troops home since becoming the junior senator from Illinois.  On his trip this summer to Iraq he seemed to have the president of Iraq agree with his timetable for withdrawal.

Iraq was also a large issue in helping Senator John McCain win the Republican nomination for president.  The senator from Arizona has been outspoken in his views on Iraq, which are almost the exact opposite of his Democratic opponent.  McCain calls for victory in Iraq before American troops can leave.  The former fighter pilot in the Vietnam War has been a champion of the troop surge of American soldiers that most analysts feel has helped change the military situation on the ground more favorably for the Iraqis and the Americans. 

However, something strange has happened on the road to the general election...

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McCain and Obama on the Issues
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