FINEMAN: Why do you think John McCain is drawing such a good response in New Hampshire? BUSH: Well, I think John is a good man. I do think his story is compelling, and I think people become interested in a man who has served as a POW. He’s a straight talker. The way I’m going to campaign in the primaries is, I’m going to treat John with respect.
Can you win the nomination if you lose New Hampshire? The answer is, I don’t intend to lose it. You’re trying to get me to admit I could lose it and, you know, I’m a positive guy.
But given history, it can be done. I think the candidates can stumble in early primary states somewhere and still recover. But I intend to give it my best shot in each state.
Would you concede that there is some validity in the concern that people have about your knowledge of foreign policy? I would think it’s very important for me to enunciate the principles by which I’ll be making decisions in foreign policy.
What leaders in history do you respect? Winston Churchill. He was visionary, he was tough, he was principled and he had a great sense of humor. Harry Truman [promoted] a world where America’s strength and values helped lay the groundwork for peace. George H.W. Bush: his compassion earned respect so that when the moment arose, people were willing to respond. Ronald Reagan had a clear vision, then he held his ground.
Is there another epoch that reminds you of today’s world, where U.S. power predominates? Britain in the 19th century? There’s one right there, and the reason [was because] it was an overextended empire. It is very important for America to be humble in its leadership.
What do you mean by that? If we expect to lead the world to peace and if we expect to build reliable alliances to help keep the peace, then it is important for our nation to be humble in our approach and respectful of others.
That means, I assume, you think international organizations are important. They’re important to a limited extent. They’re not important to win wars. They’re important for humanitarian reasons. If you’re referring to the United Nations, we should never submit our troops to U.N. command–and we won’t, so long as I am the president.
Should we pay our U.N. dues? Only with reforms… Lowering the U.S. contribution to the overall bill is one.
How did you build your foreign-policy team? We all understand on this team that America should not retreat. We ask the question, what’s best for America? And what’s best for America is free trade. And what’s best for America is building strong alliances. And what’s best for America is redefining relationships, if necessary, in order to keep the peace. One that comes to mind is China… I don’t know all the fine print related to the World Trade Organization, but China ought to be in the WTO. Nevertheless, having said that, I think it’s very important for us to let the Chinese know we don’t appreciate violations of human rights and we don’t appreciate the spread of weaponry.
The Republicans in Congress cut the budget to retrain Russian scientists. Yeah, I saw that today. I would hope to be able to reinstate that part in the budget.
Are you helping the hard-liners in Russia when you say we’ve got to abrogate the antiballistic-missile treaty? We hope to convince the Russians that an ABM treaty re-vision will help both of us deploy antiballistic-missile systems… that protect not only ourselves but themselves from rogue attacks.
There is talk of an independent military force for the European Union. Do you think that’s a good idea? NATO is ultimately going to be the alliance that helps us deal with Russia in the long term. The EU military is at its very early stages of planning… It depends on how it is ultimately structured. If it strengthens NATO, I’d support it. If it would weaken NATO, I wouldn’t.
How do you convince India and Pakistan to not test nuclear weapons when we won’t sign the test-ban treaty? I’m going to keep the [U.S.] moratorium in place. I’m going to say, we hope you do the same.
In retrospect, do you think your father should have sent troops to Baghdad in the gulf war? No, I don’t. First of all, the commander in chief listens to the military, and he listened to the military. Secondly, it would have changed the nature of the war. The coalition would have been very difficult to keep together. And it would have expanded the mission. When he got up in front of the world, he said, “The mission is to free Kuwait.” That was the mission.
