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McCarthy was
strongly critical of the Democratic president in a speech that
could increase his appeal to hard-line conservatives who sought
to oust the current speaker, John Boehner. Boehner abruptly
announced his resignation on Friday.
"The absence of leadership over the past six years has had
horrific consequences all across the globe, and it is getting
worse day by day," McCarthy said in a speech to the John Hay
Initiative, an organization of Republican foreign policy
veterans.
McCarthy, 50, who as majority leader is the No. 2 House
Republican, has emerged as the most likely candidate to be
elected to succeed Boehner as speaker. The California
congressman formally announced later on Monday that he had
decided to run.
In his speech, McCarthy provided a list of foreign policy
suggestions that largely conflicted with Obama administration
policies.
There has been little common ground between congressional
Republicans and Obama on foreign policy during Obama's time in
office, and McCarthy's comments made clear that was unlikely to
change if he were to become speaker.
He spoke on the same day that Obama gave a major foreign policy
speech at the annual U.N. General Assembly. [ID:"nL1N11Y1B5]
McCarthy said the United States should provide lethal aid to
Ukraine as it faces Russian aggression and target Russia's
Gazprom <GAZP.MM> energy company. He also spelled out strong
opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran, calling for tougher
sanctions.
McCarthy backed measures to deal with the crisis in Syria,
including a no-fly zone in northern Syria and tougher measures
against Islamic State militants. And he said the United States
should consider putting U.S. Special Forces troops on the ground
to help call in air strikes and provide more support for the
Iraqi army and Kurds fighting the group, which has conquered
wide swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq.
"We must wage this war against radical Islam as if our life
depended on it, because it does," McCarthy said.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bernard Orr and
Jonathan Oatis)
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