The Kissinger primary
Youâre a Republican thinking of running for president. Itâs a dangerous world, and your foreign policy credentials are a little thin. Time to see Henry Kissinger. Story Continued Below Scott Walker did it. So did Marco Rubio and Chris Christie. Rick Perry paid a visit in September â he even tweeted a photo to prove it. âIt was an honor to speak with Dr. Kissinger today and hear his thoughts on Americaâs foreign policy challenges,â tweeted the then-Texas governor. Rubio has âmet with Kissinger a couple of times in the past, and always appreciates his insights,â says a spokesman for the Florida senator, adding that Rubio has been reading Kissingerâs latest book, âWorld Order.â At 91 years old, the former secretary of state, national security adviser and intellectual-cum-celebrity has come to occupy a unique place in the foreign policy firmament. Though some historians blame him for countless deaths in places like Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh, Kissinger is more revered than ever in Washington. He has become a Yoda-like figure, bestowing credibility and a statesmanâs aura to politicians of both parties, including ones who may not actually share his worldview. They may want more than a message: A Kissinger endorsement could be a major boost in a crowded GOP field. Though he often sits out primary contests, Kissinger backed John McCain in December 2007 when the Arizona Republican was still fending off other challengers. (He even granted a much-needed private audience to McCainâs running mate, Sarah Palin, the next year.) âPeople treat him as an oracle,â says James Mann, a resident fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and author of several books on foreign policy. âCandidates running for president like to be seen with or described as having talked to Kissinger, because they think it sends a message that they themselves are serious about foreign policy â when in fact they may not even know much about what Henry Kissinger believes or what he has done.â Kissingerâs many admirers call him brilliant, with an unmatched grasp of history. They revere him for diplomatic feats like masterminding Richard Nixonâs history-altering 1972 opening to China. But the GOPâs Kissinger crush is also surprising in some ways. The man who largely guided American foreign policy for a decade under Nixon and then Gerald Ford is a longtime proponent of the ârealistâ school of foreign policy. Realists prioritize order and stability above human rights, democracy and other internal affairs in foreign countries. Many of Kissingerâs GOP admirers, including McCain, champion democracy promotion and military action to prevent atrocities. And Kissinger disciples like Walker, Rubio and Perry may not share their tutorâs support for diplomacy with Iran and engagement with China, nor his caution against âposturingâ against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even more surprising, however, is Kissingerâs embrace by Democrats, including providing private counsel to Barack Obama. A batch of White House visitor records released on Jan. 31 show that Kissinger visited the president in the Oval Office on Oct. 22. Unlike the Republicans who brag about their proximity to Kissinger, the White House did not publicize this meeting and would not characterize its substance. Kissingerâs office did not comment for this story. But other Democrats havenât been shy about their admiration for a man who was long reviled by the left, who regularly counseled George W. Bush and Dick Cheney during the 2000s, who endorsed John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 â and whom credible historians say has not been held accountable for reprehensible actions during his Nixon administration tenure. During his confirmation hearing to be secretary of state, John Kerry cited Kissingerâs book âDiplomacyâ as a âsuperbâ guide to the modern world and met with him privately as the Obama administration built its later-aborted case for bombing Syria in September 2013. Last fall, Hillary Clinton wrote a glowing Washington Post review of Kissingerâs late-2014 tome, âWorld Order,â which she called âvintage Kissinger, with his singular combination of breadth and acuity along with his knack for connecting headlines to trend lines.â Most unlikely of all, perhaps, is the kinship between Obamaâs close adviser and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power, with the Cold War-era diplomat five decades her elder. Last April ESPN tagged along with Power, a die-hard Red Sox fan, and Kissinger, a Yankees lover, for a trip to the ballpark in which the two likened their sports rivalry to their divergent worldviews. The two hold nearly polar opposite views of the role human rights should play in foreign policy, making Power what some call an idealist to Kissingerâs realist. At Yankee Stadium, those differences were papered over with banter: âWait until Samantha says ârealpolitik,ââ Kissinger joked. âIt means: Heâs a German and watch out for him.â But the partnership between Kissinger and Obama officials can be serious business. Still connected around the globe by dint of his reputation and business activities as the founder of Kissinger Associates, a lucrative Manhattan-based international consulting firm, Kissinger is a constant traveler and source of valuable information from abroad. For instance, Kissinger has been an important â if informal â conduit of information about Putin. The former U.S. diplomat is among a small handful of Americans granted audiences with the Russian leader. Kissinger has reported back to Washington on his contacts, including at least once directly to Obamaâs national security adviser, according to Michael McFaul, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Moscow until last year. Before his occasional meetings with Putin, Kissinger would first visit McFaul in Spaso house, the U.S. ambassadorâs residence in Moscow, where photos of Kissinger visiting the same building in the early 1970s adorn the walls. He would âfind out what the pulse of the [current U.S.] policy wasâ before seeing the Russian leader. Then, after seeing Putin, Kissinger would report on his contact back to officials in Washington. âI was totally amazed at Henryâs vigor, both intellectually and politically,â McFaul added. He has sometimes undertaken more specific assignments, as when, in August 2011 Hillary Clinton turned to Kissinger amid an international crisis following a bloody Israeli assault on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid flotilla. Clinton enlisted Kissinger to urge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize to Turkey in the name of preserving an important regional relationship. (The account, described in Clintonâs memoir âHard Choices,â does not say how the message was received, but Netanyahu did not apologize until much later.) The cross-partisan relationship between Clinton and Kissinger is particularly notable. Soon after Clintonâs review of his book appeared, Kissinger told USA Today that Clinton âran the State Department in the most effective way that Iâve ever seen.â He soon followed up by telling NPR that Clinton would be âa good president,â adding that he planned to vote Republican. Foreign policy analysts say the friendliness illustrates the extent to which Obama, for all the idealism he once represented, has pursued a cold-eyed policy of realism in the classic Kissinger style â for instance, through his unwillingness to intervene more aggressively to prevent atrocities in Syriaâs civil war. Modern foreign policy debates are less about partisanship and more âbetween people who focus primarily on states and people who focus on people,â says Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former top official in Clintonâs State Department who now heads the New America Foundation. âHe sees the world as a chessboard.â Some historians are harsher, questioning whether Kissinger should be accepted in polite company at all, citing actions and statements he made in the Nixon and Ford administrations that stretched the concept of realism to cruel callousness. In 1975, for instance, Kissinger said that the U.S. âwill be friends withâ the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, adding: âThey are murderous thugs, but we wonât let that stand in our way.â A Nixon Oval Office tape from 1973 recorded him expressing little sympathy for Jews trying to flee oppression in the former Soviet Union. âIf they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern,â Kissinger said. âPeople in Washington have a remarkable ability not to ask questions about what their guest of honor actually did in Cambodia or Bangladesh,â says Gary J. Bass, a Princeton professor of politics and international affairs and author of âThe Blood Telegram,â which is harshly critical of Kissinger for allowing thousands of preventable deaths during the 1971 creation of Bangladesh. During his Jan. 28 testimony before McCainâs committee, Kissinger was partly encircled by a group of protesters with the anti-war group Code Pink, who held a banner and chanted slogans calling for his arrest as a âwar criminal.â An outraged McCain threatened to have them arrested, calling one protester âlow-life scum.â Republicans like McCain are totally unmoved by the charges against Kissinger, and recent GOP candidates have welcomed his support. Romney was grateful for Kissingerâs backing in 2012, though â like so many others â couldnât resist an impersonation of his German-born advocateâs distinctive accent. âI saw Dr. Kissingerâ in New York, Romney said at a surreptitiously recorded 2012 fundraiser. âI said to him, âHow are we perceived around the world?â And he said one word: âVeak!ââ As the 2016 campaign kicks off, a competition is already underway to gain Kissingerâs favor. One early favorite could be Chris Christie. As the former New Jersey governor later told The Washington Postâs Dan Balz for his book âCollision 2012,â Kissinger summoned him to his midtown Manhattan office in mid-2011 and urged him to run for president, saying he had a rare connection with voters. When Christie replied that he knew little about world affairs, his host told him not to worry. âWe can work with you on that. Foreign policy is instinct, itâs character,â Christie recalled Kissinger saying. But Kissinger â whom Bob Woodward once described as having âa powerful, largely invisible influenceâ over George W. Bushâs foreign policy â is also friendly with Bushâs brother Jeb. Last spring Kissinger told the Post that he would be âdelightedâ to see Jeb Bush run, calling the former Florida governor âexperienced, moderate and thoughtful.â Since Bush began signaling his intention to run for president in 2016 this winter, the two have not yet had a publicized meeting. If recent history is any guide, that tweet should be coming soon.