Obama the Hawk?

It is generally accepted that Republican presidential candidate John McCain is a defense / national security hawk. From allegations that he wanted to continue the Iraq war for 100 years to a joke about bombing Iran gone horribly wrong, McCain has been viewed as the more aggressive of the two presidential candidates when it comes to the use of military force. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is generally perceived to be the calm, cool collected one who views diplomacy as the priority and armed force as a last resort. But is this characterization of the two candidates accurate?

Writing in the Washington Post October 27, Robert Kaiser says, "The well-advertised differences between John McCain and Barack Obama on the war in Iraq may obscure a consequential similarity between their hawkish views on the use of American military force in other places."

Both candidates, as noted by Kaiser, have stated that they are ready to commit American soldiers abroad for a variety of reasons. Both have also called for an increase in U.S. forces in Afghanistan, as Kaiser says, "...that could lead to a long-term commitment of American soldiers without a clear statement of how long they might remain or what conditions would lead to their withdrawal."

Both Obama and McCain have advocated an increase in the size of the U.S. military, although their desired end strengths differ, and both have said they may deploy U.S. forces for "moral" missions, such as stopping genocide. And, finally, Kaiser says, "Both accept what Andrew Bacevich...calls the 'unspoken consensus which commits the United States to permanent military primacy.'"

Obama has stated that he would attack targets inside Pakistan if the Pakistani government were unwilling or unable to do so. He has also said that a nuclear armed Iran is unacceptable, and that as president he would keep all options, including the use of military force, on the table.

Stepping back and taking a look at Obama's statements on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and potential other crisis spots around the world, it's not hard to see that a President Obama, at least based on what we have seen and heard thus far, would be more than willing to employ U.S. military forces around the world, even if national interests vital to the United States were not a factor.

Returning to the original question, there are a lot of similarities between John McCain and Barack Obama when it comes to instances in which each would be willing to U.S. military force. But the long-held view of Democrats as "dovish" and Republicans as "hawkish," along with a continual stressing of diplomacy over war by the Obama campaign, have combined to obscure the extent to which a President Obama would seem to be willing to employ the U.S. military abroad.