Bloomberg quotes Nonresident Senior Fellow Richard LeBaron on why campaign rhetoric does not always indicate how Presidents will actually govern:
“I don’t put too much stock into anything a candidate says on foreign policy at this stage,” said Richard LeBaron, an expert with the Atlantic Council who served as Ambassador to Kuwait under President George W. Bush. “Part of it is just an attempt to distinguish themselves from their rivals. Some of it is to look stronger or tougher than the other guy. And a lot of it will go by the wayside when you’re elected, because after you’re elected the world becomes a much more complex place and a lot less prone to simplistic solutions that you hear in campaigns.”