Pawlenty en el Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Ha advertido sobre el escepticismo que está ganando terreno en el Partido Republicano respecto a los esfuerzos bélicos en Afganistán, Iraq y Libia.

In a thinly veiled swipe at his rivals in the 2012 Republican presidential field, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty criticized the growing isolationist sentiments being expressed by some in the GOP ranks.

“America already has one political party devoted to decline, retrenchment and withdrawal. It does not need a second one,” Mr. Pawlenty said.

Mr. Pawlenty, in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said some Republicans are pivoting away from the party’s legacy of “strength” in the foreign policy arena, while trying to “outbid the Democrats in appealing to isolationist sentiments.”

“This is no time for uncertain leadership in either party. The stakes are simply too high, and the opportunity is simply too great,” he said in a clear attempt to distance himself from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who recently suggested it is time to rethink the nation’s military role in Afghanistan, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who has backed a rapid withdrawal of troops there.

“History repeatedly warns us that, in the long run, weakness in foreign policy costs us and our children much more than we’ll save in a budget line item,” Mr. Pawlenty said. (...)