Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Monday predicted chaos for the next 20 months, saying the “bullies and tyrants of the world” have sized up President Obama and determined that he is “no credible threat whatsoever.”
Mr. Cruz hammered the administration’s handling of foreign policy in areas such as Russia, Iran and the Islamic State terrorist group while invoking the name of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who announced Sunday she is running for president in 2016.
“President Obama and Secretary Clinton have had their chance,” he said at a luncheon in Raleigh hosted by the John Locke Foundation. “Their policies do not work. Leading from behind is a dismal failure.”
Mr. Cruz, who announced is own 2016 presidential bid last month, said that for the next 20 months, “I believe we are essentially in a Hobbesian state of nature.”
“It’s like ’Lord of the Flies.’ The only limit on bad actors is the extent of their own strength, because for the next 20 months, the bullies and tyrants of the world, I believe, have taken the measure of the man in the Oval Office and determined that he is no credible threat whatsoever,” he said.
He said the good news is that in the annals of history, “20 months is not a very long time.”
“We need new leadership in Washington,” he said.
He said that the list of places that have gotten worse under the “Obama-Clinton foreign policy” can be depressing, but that the American people have always risen to the challenge.
Mr. Cruz, who has rankled Democrats and Republicans alike with his iconoclastic style, reminded the audience that former President Reagan was also once a Washington outsider.
“In 1980, things were bad,” he said. “We remember what happened in 1979 and 1980 … there was a grassroots movement that came from the people, that came from millions of men and women across this country and [it] became the Reagan Revolution.
“And it didn’t come from Washington,” he added. “Washington despised Ronald Reagan.”
“If you see a candidate who Washington embraces, run and hide,” he said to applause.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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