Michael McCaul Quotes

Maybe Hillary Clinton was right in 2008 when she called Barack Obama 'naive' on foreign policy.

Our foreign policy is inadequate, outmoded and misdirected .... If we go on as we are, soon—in the fashion of the cat on a hot tin roof—we shall be skipping from one crisis to another all over the globe, unable to get our footing anywhere.

Bill Clinton's foreign policy experience stems mainly from having breakfast at the International House of Pancakes.

The mantra from the Obama State Department is 'smart power' - the not-so-new idea that all elements of national power should be utilized to influence other countries.

The Obama foreign policy, in broad strokes, has been a disaster.

There are legitimate, even powerful arguments, to be made against the Bush administration's foreign policy. But those arguments are complicated, hard to explain, and, in the end, not all that sensational.

Look, I think the notion that there's a dogma or doctrine of foreign policy that gives you a textbook recipe for how to react to all situations is really nonsense.

The diplomatic relations upon which our present system of international comity is based are being encountered by new forces and combinations which are fast rendering them impotent and antiquated

The main thing that endears the United Nations to member governments, and so enables it to survive, is its proven capacity to fail, and to be seen to fail. If there is something you are expected to do, but don't want to do, or even have done for you, you can safely appeal to the UN in the comfortable certainty that it will let you down.

Americans must step back and realize that an effective foreign policy is very difficult to devise, and we must present a united front to make it work.

Bob Gates has unusual standing in the debate about the Obama administration's foreign policy: He was defense secretary for both a hawkish President George W. Bush and a wary President Obama. He understood Bush's desire to project power and Obama's skepticism.

We have not been a normal country when it comes to engagement in the world.

Obama's foreign policy has three parts: Abandon our allies, appease our enemies, and apologize for America.

It's important that all around the globe that the United States is pursuing the most effective foreign policy possible.

One of the things you learn in government is there's a long tail to American decision-making when it comes to foreign policy. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem, pulling out of the Iran deal, pulling out of Paris, not speaking up for democratic values - the world doesn't end the next day.

Vice President Joe Biden said today that 'Syria must be held accountable.' Unfortunately, the Obama administration has never employed an accountant, so they have no idea how to do that.

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

Now, the people that helped get Obama elected, who think Israel is a good idea, need to wake up and tell him they're our friends, let's preserve them. And then it would happen. Because that's the only kind of thing he responds to. But he throws our friends under the bus and rewards our enemies.

In the United States, there is a broadly shared view that the U.N. is one of many potential instruments to advance U.S. issues, and we have to decide whether a particular issue is best done through the U.N. or best done through some other mechanism.

Both Bibi and Obama realize that they are going to have to face the problem of Iran together.

I'm a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Well, I think the United States first of all has to recognize the world for what it is.

It's not just Iraq - it's the Atlantic partnership which is at stake.

No Western government has ever played the long-term in terms of foreign policy.

I didn't serve on a committee that dealt with foreign policy.