Subject: values
From: Brian Katulis <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 19:17:38 -0600 (CST)

John,

Great presentation at the fundraiser earlier today.

A thought on your response to the second question on foreign policy in the general election.  I thought you had all of the right elements in the response: the need to go on the offensive and the experience contrast with her likely opponents.

One aspect that would be good to weave into your response is something you said earlier in your opening presentation: "projecting U.S. values around the world."

This is something I think will become increasingly important in the political debate on foreign policy no matter who wins the Republican nomination.  It may sound soft, but I think it cuts to the core of what a lot of the election is about at home and abroad - who we are as Americans and how we deal with others in the world.

I brought this up with Laura R and others - extending the values argument to overseas some more.

Sect. Clinton has already done this in the countering ISIS and extremism context in the speeches in the fall, but that was mostly in a "counter" frame, as opposed to something more proactive that could inspire Americans and remind everyone what a great country we actually are.

What I'm thinking is something that leans forward a bit more about standing up for what is the essence of the American spirit and ideal and speaking about it in global terms.

4 reasons why I think this could help:

1.  She's done it before.  She has a strong record as Sect of State on basic freedoms - her visions outlined in speeches as Sect.  on freedom of expression, access to the Internet, and of course gender equality form a coherent world view on the values front.  Her speech to NDI was one of the best out there.

2.  She lights up when she talks about the sets of issues.  You know how you can tell when a speaker strongly believes and feels something?  I don't know her at all, but watching her as a speaker, there seems to be an inner fire ignited when she speaks about the fight for equality at home - gender, racial, economic.  She did this after New Hampshire earlier this month and it seemed to come from deep from within.

3.  It offers a clear contrast to the Republicans.  Cruz and Trump are on the record praising authoritarians like Putin or Sisi.  Rubio speaks of values abroad but in a neocon-ish way that makes it seem like he wants to take us back a decade to 2006.

4.  It offers a tonal contrast to how Obama is perceived - especially post Iran and Cuba when many read the administration as pivoting away from a focus on freedom and dignity abroad.

I'm not suggesting going down a Bush-like Freedom Agenda effort - most like a reinforcement of FDR's Four Freedoms applied abroad, with a strong dash of getting other democracies in the world to pull their weight in helping beat back the negative trends against the respect for the basic dignity of everyone, whether it is Iran hanging people for being homosexual or ISIS throwing them off buildings in Syria, or Christians being persecuted in the land where their faith was born.

Nice to see you - hope you don't mind my 2 cents from the sidelines.

Brian