WASHINGTON — For the first time in decades, the Republican presidential ticket has little substantial foreign policy or military experience, a marked shift for a party that has long sought to project strength on those issues.
That may not hurt Mitt Romney, a successful businessman, and Paul Ryan, a congressional budget expert, in a tightly contested election dominated by sluggish economic growth and high unemployment.
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But a series of pressing foreign policy concerns — including the war in Afghanistan, a civil war in Syria and the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran — still could shake up the race before November and are certain to become immediate priorities for whoever wins the White House.
Republicans insists that Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, brings foreign policy credentials to the Romney-led ticket. Campaign officials point to his experience working on international trade issues in Congress and his knowledge of the defense budget.
“Gov. Romney chose Congressman Ryan first and foremost because he’s ready on day one to step in as commander in chief should he need to assume that responsibility,” Romney spokesman Brendan Buck said.
But the difference between the foreign policy and national security experience held by the Romney-Ryan ticket and recent Republican tickets is stark.
Dick Cheney served as defense secretary before becoming vice president to President George W. Bush, a former Texas governor who had scant experience in international affairs. Bob Dole, who ran for president in 1996, was a World War II hero, though his running mate, Jack Kemp, was a congressman best known for his conservative economic views. President George H.W. Bush was a World War II veteran, the U.S. envoy to China and CIA director before serving as vice president to Ronald Reagan, who had limited foreign policy skills, and later winning the presidency himself.
Most recently, Republicans nominated Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War hero who has spent years on the Senate Armed Services Committee. His running mate, Sarah Palin, had no foreign policy experience and was mocked for referencing her home state of Alaska’s proximity to Russia as she worked to boost her credentials.
Romney, for his part, is a one-term former Massachusetts governor who spent most of his life in the private sector, experience that forms the basis of his candidacy. He was exposed to international affairs during those private sector years and before that lived in France for two and a half years as a Mormon missionary, but his direct involvement in foreign policy has been limited.
Ryan has spent nearly 14 years in Congress, serving mainly on committees with an economic focus, including the House Budget Committee, which he chairs, and the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. He has traveled to 19 countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq, on taxpayer-funded congressional trips since 2001 and traveled to Israel in 2005 on a trip privately financed by the American Israel Education Foundation. He also founded the Congressional Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus, which focuses on boosting trade ties between the U.S. and Middle Eastern nations.
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