Huckabee and foreign policy

This is a critical moment for the Huckabee campaign. In the past week, Huckabee has emerged as a serious contender for the presidency. He is now starting to be subjected to serious and sustained media scrutiny. He has to watch it, or else the image of an inexperienced and unprepared candidate emerges from the way he answers questions.

Here's Steve Benen today:

Huckabee not only has no idea what the NIE said this week, he also has no idea what the NIE even is. He’s running for president in a time of war but apparently understands the basics of the global landscape about as well as a child.

Huckabee has been effectively flying under the radar, avoiding scrutiny because few perceived him as a credible candidate. He hasn’t assembled a group of top-notch policy advisors — who could walk him through the basics, such as how to read a newspaper — because a) he hasn’t had any money; b) all the best policy experts had already signed on with top-tier candidates; and c) he hasn’t needed good advisors, because no one has been asking him hard questions.

The problem with the presidential election system in America today is this. First, the job of the Presidency is best performed by a president with an inquiring mind and an understanding of both other countries and international relations. The job itself has its greatest impact in the sphere of foreign policy, and it is best to have a president who is not hostage to policy advisers (who do not have to ultimately take responsibility--"Success has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan") and subject to groupthink.

Second, however, the president is selected by voters who don't have the foggiest view of what constitutes mature foreign policy reflection. They care about domestic policy and political style. So the candidates who do well electorally are not the candidates who are the best prepared for the job. Governors have an advantage in presidential campaigns, for example, but governors don't have to deal with foreign policy at all.

Here's where the media steps in. The media is a second constituency that must be placated in order to become president and also to thrive as president. The key is not to do what the media wants on public policy, they don't have an agenda besides getting good stories, but rather to impress them with one's knowledge and preparedness. This is not necessarily the same thing as actually being knowledgeable and prepared, of course--faking it effectively is just as good. In one sense, politicians are all just big fakers, since they can't possibly have much more than a surface knowledge of the majority of issues. But impressing the media set is what's important, because if they are taken with you, they will portray you in a serious light. I've talked about this before, with reference to Obama, another candidate where experience is at issue.

In Huckabee's case we'll see if he can charm and impress the media people. The other candidates are already on the attack, with Thompson coming out swinging by calling the Huckster a "court jester." With four weeks exactly to the voting, this is not the time for learning new tricks and boning up on foreign policy issues.

My sense is that the press won't turn on Huckabee immediately. They have a good story with a tight race and a colorful alternative to Romney. But if the Huckster wins Iowa, it's a different story.