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Lynch: Congressman, how much discomfort does it give you that you're being asked by your
democratic president basically to approve what you criticized President Bush for years
ago, going to war, taking military action without broad multilateral cooperation?
Loebsack: Well, I think given my level of discomfort now at the moment I think that
I have remained consistent in terms of my concern about any unilateral action by any
president whether it's a democratic president or a republican president. At the same time,
if there is a case where our national interests are truly at stake, if we're attacked or whatever
the case may be, then we should reserve the right, we have the right to act unilaterally
if need be. In this particular instance I'm not convinced that's the right way to go,
I wasn't convinced in 2007 that that was the right way to go as well. So in that sense
I think that we do need, depending on the circumstances, we do need to take into account
others, not just the United States.
Lynch: At this point is Obama Bush?
Loebsack: I wouldn't quite go that far, James, they're completely different folks. But my
point is, of course, to me politics shouldn't enter into my calculation in terms of whether
I vote for or against an authorization for force. That's the bottom line.
Henderson: But is there any daylight between Bush Doctrine and Obama Doctrine when it comes
to foreign policy?
Loebsack: I don't know that there is an Obama Doctrine as such. I think that assumes a lot
on the part of sort of thinking about this thing more comprehensively. In this particular
instance President Obama is responding to a particular incident and there's a particular
concern there. The Bush Doctrine was something that was more well developed over time. So
I don't think they're comparable in that sense.
Henderson: Well, isn't that a problem that there's not a well developed foreign policy
on the part of President Obama?
Loebsack: All I'm saying is that I don't know that there's anything that we can call an
Obama Doctrine.