Paul’s past views are problematic with some in his own party — particularly donors. Paul lays out foreign policy goals

Sen. Rand Paul slammed Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama for U.S. military action in Libya, saying it helped create a “jihadist wonderland” and had a destabilizing effect that has made America “less safe” in a foreign policy address Thursday night.

The Kentucky Republican’s speech, at a dinner hosted by the Center for the National Interest — a group founded by President Richard Nixon — was an attempt to lay out a broad foreign policy theme that nodded to his libertarian base but also described circumstances in which American military involvement around the globe is necessary. It was an attempt to balance both concepts, after a year of being dinged by foreign policy hawks who see his views as isolationist.


Paul has also been a frequent critic of Clinton, the former secretary of state. But his take on Libya — which prior to the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in 2012 was expected to be Clinton’s major foreign policy success story — is a reminder that Republicans will frame that as an enduring vulnerability in a 2016 presidential campaign.

( Also on POLITICO: The GOP's 2016 tech deficit)

While Clinton’s hawkish foreign policy views are problematic with her own party’s base and where polling shows the majority of the country stands right now with regard to intervention elsewhere around the globe, Paul’s past views are problematic with some in his own party — particularly donors.

“The war in Libya was not in our national interest. It had no clear goal and it led to less stability,” Paul said at the Essex House hotel in midtown Manhattan.

“Today, Libya is a jihadist wonderland, a sanctuary and safe haven for terror groups across North Africa. Our ambassador was assassinated and our Embassy forced to flee overland to Tunisia. Jihadists today swim in our Embassy swimming pool. The Obama administration, urged on by Hillary Clinton, wanted to go to war but didn’t anticipate the consequences of war.”

( Also on POLITICO: Rand, Ron Paul split over travel ban)

He added, “Libya is now more chaotic and America is less safe.” And he faulted the White House for bypassing congressional authority.

“President Obama missed a chance to galvanize the country. He missed a chance to lead,” he said.

He said he supported the fight against the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but not the arming of some rebels in Syria, which he argued has been misguided.

( Also on POLITICO: 2014's most competitive races)

Elsewhere in the speech, Paul said America is currently drifting “from crisis to crisis” amid weak leadership, but that voters don’t “see war as the only solution.”

“Reagan had it right when he spoke to potential adversaries: ‘Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will,’” he said.

“After the tragedies of Iraq and Libya, Americans are right to expect more from their country when we go to war. America shouldn’t fight wars where the best outcome is stalemate. America shouldn’t fight wars when there is no plan for victory. America shouldn’t fight wars that aren’t authorized by the American people, by Congress.

“America should and will fight wars when the consequences … intended and unintended … are worth the sacrifice. The war on terror is not over, and America cannot disengage from the world.”