Stand For Something, by John Kasich: on Foreign Policy


Arnold Schwarzenegger: 1990s: Worked with Bill Clinton on African debt relief

I'll tell you a strange-bedfellows-type story. Arnold Schwarzenegger called me up, on debt relief for Africa. We put together a meeting with religious leaders over at the White House. I invited Pat Robertson to attend. Pat told me he had not visited the White House since Clinton became president, and I soon learned that Clinton's staff wanted to keep it that way. At one point, they actually asked me to disinvite Robertson, who had been highly critical of Clinton. The staffer cautiously advised the President that Pat Robertson was scheduled to attend the meeting, and the President looked at him hopefully and said, "Do you think he might come?"

The meeting took place, and at the end I could see Pat Robertson and Bill Clinton yukking it up at the front end of the room, and I turned to that anxious staffer and said, "Now do you believe in miracles?"

Good politics shouldn't be "us" or "them". It shouldn't be about winning or losing. Good politics should be about doing

Source: Stand For Something, by John Kasich, p. 20-21 May 10, 2006

Bill Clinton: 1990s: Worked with religious leaders for African debt relief

I'll tell you a strange-bedfellows-type story. Arnold Schwarzenegger called me up, on debt relief for Africa. We put together a meeting with religious leaders over at the White House. I invited Pat Robertson to attend. Pat told me he had not visited the White House since Clinton became president, and I soon learned that Clinton's staff wanted to keep it that way. At one point, they actually asked me to disinvite Robertson, who had been highly critical of Clinton. The staffer cautiously advised the President that Pat Robertson was scheduled to attend the meeting, and the President looked at him hopefully and said, "Do you think he might come?"

The meeting took place, and at the end I could see Pat Robertson and Bill Clinton yukking it up at the front end of the room, and I turned to that anxious staffer and said, "Now do you believe in miracles?"

Good politics shouldn't be "us" or "them". It shouldn't be about winning or losing. Good politics should be about doing.

Source: Stand For Something, by John Kasich, p. 20-21 May 10, 2006

Ronald Reagan: In Berlin: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Once, on his way to the Brandenburg Gate, Reagan's advisors were pleading with him to temper his comments. (Reagan's secretary of the treasury, James Baker, told me this story.) "When you get to the Berlin Wall," the advisors told the president, "please, remember we're in the middle of sensitive negotiations. Be careful what you say." So what did Reagan do? He strode to that gate and he took the lectern and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

Ronald Reagan didn't listen to his advisors. He didn't listen to his pollsters. He trusted his gut. And he united the whole world. Mothers and fathers who had locked themselves in their homes in fear showed up in town squares in Poland and Czechoslovakia and in the Baltic states. "We want our freedom." Reagan's words echoed through Eastern Europe, and soon enough the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and millions of people were returned to their rightful way of life, to freedom.

Source: Stand For Something, by John Kasich, p. 32-33 May 10, 2006

  • The above quotations are from Stand For Something:
    The Battle for America's Soul    ,
    by Rep. John Kasich.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Foreign Policy.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by John Kasich on Foreign Policy.
  • Click here for more quotes by Arnold Schwarzenegger on Foreign Policy.
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