Why won't Democrats attack Hillary Clinton for her hawkish foreign policy?

Clinton is the most hawkish Democratic presidential candidate. And the last thing America needs is a hawkish president.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Franck Robichon, Poo)

At the Democratic presidential debate this week, domestic policy got a lot of coverage. But foreign policy got comparatively little — and what the candidates did discuss was largely anodyne. This is a serious problem for Democrats, because while the party enjoys relative unanimity around domestic questions, there are sharp disagreements on national security ones. The candidates — particularly the left-wing challengers — owe it to the party to hash them out so voters can see the difference.

The major axis of contention, more or less, is about foreign intervention. One faction wants less of it, while another wants more. Hillary Clinton is very much in the latter camp — in contrast to much of the Democratic Party.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.