This week and next, the two major parties will rally in support of their presidential candidates. Former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Graham is looking for a steady hand to manage U.S. foreign policy.
In the Senate Bob Graham chaired the Intelligence Committee, and the longtime Florida Democrat says the crises a candidate will face in office rarely come up on the campaign trail. He argues the most important attribute in a candidate is sound judgment to handle the unexpected.
“What I think you’re doing is you’re not electing the person so much of how they would handle a known event,” he says, “but do they bring the judgement to the issues that are unknown, but are likely to end up being the most significant.”
Graham says when he ran for governor in 1978, no one asked about Cuban refugees, but managing a wave of more than 100,000 arrivals became a central challenge for his administration.
Graham also has questions about trade. He says so far both presidential candidates have defined themselves in terms of what they oppose.
“Do they have some other approach they would take in order to increase the value to the American worker of our free trade policies of the recent past?” Graham asks.
Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have expressed opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. U.S. officials began negotiations on that deal in February of 2008. With the UK leaving the European Union, trade negotiations could be a big part of the next administration.
Not surprisingly Graham, a Democrat, believes Hillary Clinton is best suited for the presidency.
