Talking Points Published September 4, 2012 Updated September 4, 2012

Highlighting the President’s Record on National Security

By:

Takeaways

In discussing the President’s record, there are three key points:

President Obama has made us safer.
President Obama is ending war responsibly.
President Obama has been tested — and he has passed.

For decades, Democrats have been perceived by voters as weak on national security, and Democratic candidates have avoided these issues. But this year should be different. This memo argues the President and his allies should focus on security issues and provides a simple and persuasive formulation to do so.

A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found the public views the President as a better commander-in-chief than his opponent by 45-38.¹ Gallup currently gives him a 14-point margin on handling foreign affairs.²

This is no accident. The President’s national security record is outstanding. From authorizing the bin Laden raid to ending the Iraq War, the public believes the President has been a strong, decisive, and effective leader on security.³ In polling and focus groups conducted by Third Way and others, voters consistently approve of President Obama’s handling of security affairs.⁴ Even foreign policy leaders on the other side of the aisle think Obama is doing a good job of keeping America safe.⁵

In discussing the President’s record, there are three key points:
President Obama has made us safer.
President Obama is ending war responsibly.
President Obama has been tested—and he has passed.

President Obama has made us safer.

President Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
He has made destroying al Qaeda’s high command a top priority. American forces have chased them to the ends of the earth—from Pakistan’s borderlands to the mountains of Yemen—to ensure they do not threaten us again. The organization’s leadership has been decimated and is on the run.
He is working with our allies to disrupt enemy plots worldwide. The CIA, working with the Saudis, helped foil an attempt to blow up cargo planes in mid-air.⁶ The FBI disrupted an Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador in Washington.⁷ The U.S. worked with Pakistan to identify and track Najibullah Zazi, stopping him before he could attack the New York subway system.⁸

President Obama is ending wars responsibly.

President Obama ended the war in Iraq and welcomed our troops home. When he took office in January 2009, there were almost 140,000 troops stationed in country; today, only a few hundred remain, mostly working to protect the Embassy.⁹ This was a promise he made in 2008, and he kept it.¹⁰
He is transitioning security responsibilities in Afghanistan to local forces, having announced that our combat mission there will end by 2014.¹¹ He has ordered the training of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to make them responsible for their own security. ANSF levels have doubled since January 2009, rising from 153,000 troops and police to over 306,000 personnel today.¹²
He has also placed increased emphasis on building up Special Operations Forces. For example, the President’s FY13 budget plans to add over 3,300 more personnel to Special Operations Command (SOCOM).¹³
He is right-sizing the military, bringing our ground forces into line with modern national security missions.

President Obama has been tested—and he has passed.

President Obama made the tough call to order a SEAL team strike on bin Laden’s compound. Admiral William McRaven, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, said, “it was the President…that shouldered the burden for this operation, [who] made the hard decisions.”¹⁴
He worked with our allies to support the opposition in Libya to overthrow the dictator Muammar Gaddafi without risking the lives of any of our troops.¹⁵
He has rallied a coalition to bring crippling sanctions and international pressure against Iran to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons—while making clear that a military option remains on the table.¹⁶
He is working closely with our friends in Europe to avert a global economic crisis in the Eurozone.¹⁷
He is deftly managing the relationship with China by asserting U.S. presence in the Pacific and aggressively challenging China’s unfair trade practices, while at the same time reducing tensions with one of our largest trading partners that is the #1 foreign holder of our national debt.¹⁸

For more national security message framing and foundational information, read our 2012 National Security Debate Book.

Endnotes

Hart/McInturff, Poll, NBC/Wall Street Journal Survey, August 16-20, 2012, Question 21, p. 18. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/A_Politics/_Today_Stories_Teases/August_NBC-WSJ_Int_Sched.pdf.
Lydia Saad, Jeffrey M. Jones, and Frank Newport, “Mitt Romney Brings Strengths and Weaknesses to GOP Stage,” Poll, Gallup, August 30, 2012. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/156980/mitt-romney-brings-strengths-weaknesses-gop-stage.aspx?version=print.
Stephanie Condon, Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto, and Fred Backus, “Heading into the Conventions, the Presidential Race Remains Close,” Poll, CBS News, August 22-26, 2012, p. 4. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57502015/poll-20-percent-say-election-is-an-afterthought/?pageNum=4&tag=contentMain;contentBody; See also “Washington Post-ABC News Poll,” Poll, Washington Post/ABC News, August 22-25, 2012, Question 10. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postabcpoll_20120825.html.
Matt Bennett, Mieke Eoyang, Michelle Diggles, Jeremy Rosner, Kristi Lowe, and Amanda Oefelein, “National Security Focus Group Report,” Third Way and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, Report, March 2012. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.thirdway.org/publications/505.
“James Baker, Former Secretary of State, Supports Obama’s Handling of Foreign Affairs,” The Huffington Post, March 30, 2010. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/30/james-baker-praises-obama_n_519172.html.
Scott Shane and Eric Schmitt, “Qaeda Plan to Attack Plane Foiled, U.S. Officials Say,” The New York Times, May 7, 2012. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/world/middleeast/us-says-terrorist-plot-to-attack-plane-foiled.html.
Richard Esposito and Brian Ross, “Iran ‘Directed’ Washington, D.C., Terror Plot, U.S. Says,” ABC News, October 11, 2011. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-iran-tied-terror-plot-washington-dc-disrupted/story?id=14711933#.UD6l-KB618E.
A. G. Sulzberger and William K. Rashbaum, “Guilty Plea Made in Plot to Bomb New York Subway,” The New York Times, February 22, 2010. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/nyregion/23terror.html.
United States, Congressional Research Service, Amy Belasco, “Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, FY2001-FY2012: Cost and Other Potential Issues,” Report, R40682, July 2, 2009, p. 2. Accessed August 31, 2012. Available at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40682.pdf; See also Scott Wilson and Karen DeYoung, “All Troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011,” The Washington Post, October 21, 2011. Accessed August 31, 2012. Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/all-us-troops-to-leave-iraq/2011/10/21/gIQAUyJi3L_story.html.
United States, Executive Office of the President, Matt Compton, “President Obama Has Ended War in Iraq,” The White House Blog, October 21, 2011. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/10/21/president-obama-has-ended-war-iraq.
United States, Executive Office of the President, Katelyn Sabochik, “President Obama on the Way Forward in Afghanistan,” The White House Blog, June 22, 2011. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/22/president-obama-way-forward-afghanistan.
“Afghanistan Index,” The Brookings Institution, August 22, 2012. Accessed August 31, 2012. Available at: http://www.brookings.edu/about/programs/foreign-policy/afghanistan-index.
United States, Congressional Research Service, Andrew Feickert, “U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress,” p.2, June 26, 2012. Accessed August 31, 2012. Available at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS21048.pdf.
“Special Interview with Admiral William McRaven,” CNN, The Situation Room, Transcript, July 28, 2012. Accessed August 22, 2012. Available at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1207/28/sitroom.01.html.
United States, Executive Office of the President, “President Obama’s Statement on Libya,” March 18, 2011. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/03/18/president-obama-s-statement-libya#transcript; See also Matt Spetalnick and Laura MacInnis, “Obama: Gaddhafi death is warning to iron-fist rulers,” Reuters, October 20, 2011. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/20/us-libya-gaddafi-whitehouse-idUSTRE79J6WJ20111020.
Jeffery Goldberg, “Obama to Iran and Israel: ‘As President of the United States, I Don’t Bluff’,” The Atlantic, March 2, 2012. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/obama-to-iran-and-israel-as-president-of-the-united-states-i-dont-bluff/253875/.
“G20 Summit: US ‘encouraged’ by eurozone plans,” BBC News, June 19, 2012. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18515981.
Margaret Talev and Julianna Goldman, “Obama Puts Pressure on China as U.S. Asserts Asia Influence,” Bloomberg Businessweek, November 17, 2011. Accessed August 30, 2012. Available at: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-17/obama-puts-pressure-on-china-as-u-s-asserts-asia-influence.html#p2.