Bush Endorsements Top Opponent’s
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON – Despite gambling his presidency on a war opposed by much of the international community, President Bush has tallied more public endorsements from foreign leaders than his opponent, who has pledged to regain America’s stature in the world.
In March, Senator Kerry famously boasted at a Florida fundraiser that many world leaders had privately told him they would prefer he was in the White House come January. Nonetheless, Mr. Kerry’s aides have refused to actually name any of the foreign leaders. In the case of Mr. Bush, however, many heads of state are stating their preference for the incumbent on their own.
Among the leaders who have endorsed the president in the election are members of the coalition that have sent troops to Iraq, including Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy and Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan.
But Mr. Bush has also received a strange endorsement from Hasan Rowhani, the powerful chairman of Iran’s national security council. In his 2002 State of the Union address, Mr. Bush declared Iran a member of the “axis of evil.” He has since said that the Islamic republic’s nuclear fuel cycle is intended for the production of weapons, directly contradicting the country’s leaders, who insist it is for peaceful purposes. Until recently, Mr. Bush has also given words of encouragement to Iranian democracy advocates demonstrating against the ruling mullahs.
But Mr. Rowhani said this month, “We should not forget that most sanctions and economic pressures were imposed on Iran during the time of Clinton. And we should not forget that during Bush’s era, despite his hard-line and baseless rhetoric against Iran, he didn’t take, in practical terms, any dangerous action against Iran.”
Indeed, the State Department and National Security Council included the Iranians in a conference to help plan the interim government in Afghanistan, and have empowered Iranian-funded and supported parties to high office in the interim Iraqi government.
The president has also received a ringing endorsement from President Putin of Russia, who said that the forces of international terrorism seek to remove Mr. Bush from power recently. In his first meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Bush said he could see into his soul that he was a good man. The two leaders then quickly made moves to dismantle the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, paving the way for America to move forward on missile defense.
For those foreign leaders that have actually come out in favor of Mr. Kerry, the candidate’s campaign has said they neither seek nor accept their endorsements. That was the case when the former Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, chastised in 2003 for warning of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, urged Americans to vote against Mr. Bush. Mr. Kerry’s national security adviser, Rand Beers, said the Massachusetts senator did not seek or accept the endorsement.
Kerry aides have said the same of a backhanded endorsement from President Chavez of Venezuela. Mr. Chavez recently told reporters that anyone would be better than Mr. Bush, who he has accused of authorizing a coup in 2002 to oust him from power. Mr. Chavez is planning to try an organization that arranged a referendum this August against him for conspiracy against the government on November 2. The charge includes accepting money from the National Endowment for Democracy, an organization both candidates agree should be better funded.
The one area where Mr. Kerry leads the president is in foreign newspapers, including most of the state-run newspapers from Arab dictatorships. A left leaning British paper, the Guardian, has gone so far as to target individual voters in the swing state of Ohio, urging its readers to write letters telling them to vote for Mr. Kerry.