2016 hopefuls strike hawkish tone at CPAC

Foreign policy is quickly dominating the Conservative Political Action Conference. 

A slew of potential presidential candidates demanded a more hawkish global approach on the gathering’s first day on Thursday. Friday’s schedule looks to have an even heavier national security focus.

{mosads}Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called for “A commander in chief who will actually stand up and defend the United States of America,” to roars from the crowd. 

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said the U.S. needs “a president, a leader who will stand up and say we’ll take the fight to them and not wait until they take the fight to American soil.”

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said America must fight “a war on the evil that is radical Islamic terrorism.”

The event’s tone was a marked departure from recent years, and a sign of how much international crises and the looming candidacy of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) have changed conservatives’ focus.

The annual gathering has long attracted a much younger, libertarian-leaning audience than the GOP as a whole. That propelled Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), to many CPAC presidential straw poll victories.

But this year feels different.

“It’s the first time since 2004 people are going to force themselves to ask, ‘can I picture you as commander in chief?’” said GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway, who is running the straw poll. “That was not the question in 2012, in 2008.”

Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, a fierce hawk who says he’s mulling a presidential run of his own, argued that younger conservatives — and many voters — were thinking again about global threats.

“I’ve been talking about [international threats] perhaps almost alone for a while because the good of the country depends on it,” he said. “When reality does intrude I do think people wake up and think about it.

“Many of the students who are here, their interest is on domestic affairs. But when they think about the difference between life in a constitutional system of representative government compared to life in the world as a whole they can see it’s very different,” Bolton added.

Less well-known potential candidates hit similar themes to strong applause during the day.

Businesswoman Carly Fiorina (R) talked up her ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “As I sat in his office five years ago, he spoke then of the dangers posed by Iran,” she said.  

Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson (R) warned the U.S. to “not turn our back on Israel.”

Friday’s CPAC schedule may have an even heavier national security focus.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has made foreign policy a key plank of his potential campaign, will speak.

So will former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who recently outlined his hawkish worldview, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), a border hawk, and Iran hardliner and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

Rand Paul will speak as well, and how the libertarian-leaning candidate handles national security will be noteworthy.

The notable exception to Thursday’s theme was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who was not asked about national security during his 20-minute onstage interview.

Christie, and the other governors, may be at a disadvantage to candidates like Rubio because of their limited foreign policy experience.

Walker may have highlighted his own weaknesses on the issue.

“If I can take on 100,000 protestors, I can do the same across the world,” he said in response to a question about the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The remark drew criticism from Democrats, who accused the governor of comparing union workers to terrorists and caught the attention of the press.

Walker’s campaign moved quickly to clarify.

“He was in no way comparing any American citizen to ISIS,” a Walker spokeswoman said in an email to The Hill. “What the governor was saying was when faced with adversity he chooses strength and leadership. Those are the qualities we need to fix the leadership void this White House has created.”

Perry, though, argued that governors can go toe-to-toe with senators on foreign policy. The former governor has had a number of meetings with foreign policy experts to bone up following his rough 2012 presidential run.

“If anyone wants to spend the time they can become very, very well-versed in all of the foreign policy issues that are out there,” he told The Hill. “People need to spend a lot of time getting comfortable that they have a grasp of them.”

Passing the commander in chief sniff test could prove crucial for the GOP hopefuls.

“I expect all our candidates will be laying out their visions for what’s necessary to keep America safe,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told The Hill at the conference.

“The very first bar one must clear to be the president in the eyes of the American people is to be a credible commander in chief.”