Crisp: Candidates talk tough on policy

Of course, it’s unfair to characterize a candidate by an off-hand remark taken out of context. At 38 minutes into the debate, Haley acknowledged the necessity of partnerships with other like-minded nations in a dangerous world. She said: “America can never be so arrogant to think that we don’t need friends. After 9/11 we needed a lot of friends.”

Still, Haley’s eye-rolling dismissal of her U.N. colleagues’ good opinion reflects a motivation worth noting: political candidates’ compulsion to talk tough about foreign policy in ways they could never do if they were actually in office.

The question that prompted Haley’s remark was related to an idea that several Republican candidates seem to embrace: sending U.S. special forces into Mexico to take out the drug cartels, even without Mexico’s knowledge or permission.

During the debate, Ron DeSantis was ambiguous on this subject, but when asked in August if he would support sending special forces into Mexico, he was clear: “Yes, and I will do it on day one.”

Haley was equally emphatic: “We’ll send special operations in to take out the cartels. We need to go to where they’re distributing it, where the supply centers are, and take them out.”

Don’t believe either one of them. This is the sort of campaign bluster that generally works on the hustings but would never survive the legal, political, ethical, practical and diplomatic complications that would obstruct such an action should the candidate ever make it to the Oval Office.

Other sorts of equally useless bravado were evident, as well. When asked what advice he would give to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the war, DeSantis said, “Finish the job once and for all with these butchers Hamas … Hamas should release every hostage and they should unconditionally surrender.” In response to the same question, Haley said, “Finish them, finish them.”

But how?

The candidates were equally belligerent about Iran. Sen. Tim Scott demanded a “strike” on Iran: “… cut off the head of the snake and the head of the snake is Iran.” Haley said, “Take out their infrastructure … punch them hard.”

This sort of casual belligerence is probably useful during the campaign, but I hope the candidates — and the voters — remember that the actual president doesn’t have the luxury of rolling his or her eyes contemptuously at the rest of the world.

The president simply cannot send troops into Mexico. Or advise Netanyahu to “finish them,” without considering the practical feasibility of a military solution. The president has to placate Israel, an outraged ally, without dismissing the aspirations of desperate, stateless Palestinians.

This treacherous tightrope has to be crossed above an abyss that threatens a much larger war. And in the background lurk the nuclear powers Russia and China. A serious escalation is just a careless misstep away.

All of these complexities should be obvious; they were completely absent from the debate stage last week.