Candidates debate foreign policy, but not costs

If Obama truly understood “the power and prestige of the American president sitting down with another head of state, and what credibility that gives to a foreign leader,” then he wouldn’t advocate meeting with Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Black.

“Obama takes the argument — reserve the right to meet with bad guys — to an absurd conclusion," he said.

Obama had given his answer in the debate: “Ahmadinejad is not the most powerful person in Iran. So he may not be the right person to talk to. But I reserve the right as president of the United States to meet with anybody at a time and place of my choosing if I think it's going to keep America safe.”

Obama's rejoinder on the experience issue was to cite McCain's mistaken forecasts about the Iraq war: "You said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong."

The cost of a robust foreign policy
The robust approach to foreign policy — whether in Georgia or Afghanistan — entails a military establishment that costs more than $570 billion a year, about one-fifth of total federal outlays.

Will deeper involvement in Afghanistan and elsewhere require higher taxes on Americans and more borrowing from foreigners? That question went mostly unaddressed in the debate.

But, as McCain said in one fleeting reference to America’s limited resources, “We owe China $500 billion.”

Perhaps the most eye-opening comment on what one of these two men will face was made earlier this week by a former adviser to the Chinese central bank named Yu Yongding.

Chinese banks and investors own $519 billion, or about 20 percent, of the $2.67 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities held by foreign nations.

With the U.S. Treasury about to add $700 billion more to its burdens, the Chinese are having doubts about their investment in Treasury IOUs.

"China is very worried about the safety of its assets,'' Yu told Bloomberg News. "If you want China to keep calm, you must ensure China that its assets are safe.''

The U.S. financial crisis forced Chinese leaders to confront the question: Why is their nation piling up these IOUs if they may default?

A shift by Pacific Rim investors out of Treasury bonds and the resulting decline in the value of the dollar would make the next president’s foreign policy challenges even greater.

That dilemma was not confronted Friday night.

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