The next election barely five months away and Mitt
Romney gearing up for a tough battle with President Obama, Mr. Kissinger, a
former Republican secretary of state, remains on the sidelines. The reason,
according to several Republicans familiar with the matter: concerns about Mr.
Romney’s aggressive statements on trade policy toward China, a keen issue for
Mr. Kissinger, who helped reopen relations with China and who later, as a
consultant, has had clients with significant interests there.
As Republican leaders fell in behind Mr. Romney this
spring, many members of the party’s foreign policy establishment have been more
muted. Reluctance by this group to come forward for Mr. Romney more quickly
reflects an unease over some of his positions, including his hard line on Russia
and opposition to a new missile treaty.
Mr. Romney will soon get a boost, however: Condoleezza
Rice is expected to endorse him formally on Wednesday night when she
headlines a fund-raiser for him near San Francisco, according to one of her
aides and a Romney aide.
She would join Frank C. Carlucci, a defense secretary
under President Ronald Reagan, and Stephen J. Hadley, a national security
adviser under President George W. Bush, in officially backing Mr. Romney. Other Republican foreign policy stalwarts are likely to endorse him once
they get a chance to discuss their differences with him directly.
But some nevertheless believe that Mr. Romney has
taken approaches too confrontational or too hawkish, or worry that harsh
campaign-trail statements could hurt later diplomatic efforts and may signal a
drift toward neoconservative passions as the party seeks to take back the White
House, say Republicans familiar with the discussions.
Some longtime deans of the Republican establishment,
like Brent Scowcroft, the two-time national security adviser, believe the party
as a whole has drifted rightward. Mr. Scowcroftdeclined a request for an interview, but he has recently voiced opinions at odds
with Mr. Romney’s.
For example, a seeming eagerness to follow the cues of
Israeli leaders has at times left Mr. Romney with what appears to be a dim view
of the need to press Israelis and Palestinians toward a settlement, which many
old-line Republican experts see as crucial to stability in the Middle East and
cultivating ties with the Arab world. “I don’t think America should play the
role of the leader of the peace process; instead we should stand by our ally,”
he told an
Israeli newspaper last year, referring to Israel.
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