"The Presidential Nominees’ Visions for the US, The UN and Rebuilding Our Credibility"

Source of Graph: Foreign Policy
Survey data published in June

Check out the review of foreign policy positions in The Interdependent (magazine of the United Nations Association of the United States), Vol. 6, No. 3, Fall 2008.

The brief overview of the policies of McCain and Obama indicates that their public pronouncements are very similar, and that even the Republicans are repudiating many aspects of the Bush administration's foreign policy. The main difference seems to be that Obama would push negotiation harder than would McCain.

The real differences between the two men in foreign policy may be more of temperament -- coolness in the face of complex policy challenges and the degree to which the likely reaction to a crisis is negotiation and collaboration versus shows of force.

The more important difference may be in the nature of the administrative team that would be put in place by a Republican versus a Democratic President, and the ability of the administration's team to work with the Congress to develop a coherent, bipartisan foreign policy.

In this case, we might be well advised to see ourselves as others see us. The rest of the world has much more faith in Obama's foreign policy ability than in McCain's.