Peter Beinart Quotes

Foreign policy is like hitting a baseball: if you fail 70 percent of the time, you go to the Hall of Fame.

If I were to look at foreign policy, I would say John McCain has been wrong on just about everything over the last four decades.

This is the problem with foreign policy - talking about foreign policy in a political context. Politics is binary. People win and lose elections. Legislation passes or doesn't pass. And in foreign policy often what you're doing is nuance and you're trying to prevent something worse from happening. It doesn't translate well into a political environment.

I think Barack Obama's foreign policy will be regarded more failure than success.

Every damn President since I can remember has been so in love with foreign policy that they're just like a schoolboy with a new girl.

Well, the most important thing a president will be is commander-in-chief. And that requires having an understanding of the complex issues on foreign policy. Foreign policy presents us often with hard choices, not black or white choices.

In foreign policy, even if you hold high office, you can't be sure what the effects will be of the things you do.

Our country today is at a stage in our foreign policy similar to that crucial point in our nation's early history when our Constitution was produced in Philadelphia.

Maybe I'm not going to be able to do a deal with Russia, but at least I will have tried. And if I don't, does anybody really think that Hillary Clinton would be tougher on Russia than Donald Trump?

I think the foreign policy is really not Donald Trump administration concern. Like the Syria strike. I mean, it meant almost nothing. They hit an empty air base. Within a day, it was functioning again. Planes were flying off it. It was for a domestic show, you know - show what a tough guy I am; I'm not Barack Obama.

I think I'd have a good relationship with Putin. Who knows? He's been a leader far more than Barack Obama has been a leader.

Foreign policy is conducted for the convenience and enjoyment of people in Washington.

I think I've done more right than wrong on foreign policy. I've criticized the president for being weak and indecisive. I've been a problem solver in Washington and I think I've got something to offer the party and nation.

I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine.

On the foreign policy front, Barack Obama is not a confrontational man. He stayed away from all confrontations, and you can look and see what happened overseas. It's a mess everywhere. So he made major mistakes, major policy mistakes. Those mistakes are not going to be forgiven by history.

Foreign policy is all about a universe of bad decisions, imperfect decisions; every situation is different. The dynamics, the atmospherics, the people, the pressures, the geopolitical realities shift.

Nations like individuals, when driven to choose between desperate courses, might at times be compelled to take the chance of destruction, often destroying themselves or suffering irreparable harm.

Congress cannot—nor should it—run foreign policy on a day-to-day basis. That is a truism.

The ability of the Congress of the United States to have any strategic view [of foreign policy] is virtually nil.

This President is a miserable failure on foreign policy.

The United States may have to abandon its policy of avoiding entangling alliances.

In international affairs, you pay for cockiness.

People tend to leave foreign affairs to governments because they think the leaders of government have all the information and know better.

English [foreign] policy is to float lazily downstream, occasionally putting out a diplomatic boat-hook to avoid collisions.

The United States should serve as a weight, not the weight on the scale of foreign affairs.