Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) argued Thursday that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was mistaken for saying Republicans had helped create the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“I just respectfully disagree with Senator Paul,” Walker told host Neil Cavuto on Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto.”
“And I believe the reason that we’re facing troubles, and not only in that region of the world, is because of the lack of American leadership,” he said.
{mosads}“And that certainly doesn’t mean looking around for who to blame but rather to say how do we have solutions. … I just think he’s wrong on that.”
Walker, a possible 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said America’s struggles with ISIS indicat the larger failure of President Obama’s foreign policy.
“When you see it not just in Syria, not just on Iraq — you see it with our going down the path towards a supposed agreement with Iran, you see it with [Vladimir] Putin creeping into the Ukraine, you see it with islands of sand being built in the South China Sea,” Walker said.
“I think there’s a consistent theme around the world and that is people who are friends or foes looking around and seeing an absence under this president, and not just under the Obama doctrine but largely under the Obama-Clinton doctrine.”
Paul criticized some of his Republican colleagues Wednesday for policies that may have strengthened radical Islamists.
“ISIS exists and grew stronger because of the hawks in our party, who gave arms indiscriminately, and most of those arms were snatched up by ISIS,” he said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Paul, a 2016 presidential candidate, has often preached a non-interventionist foreign policy at odds with other Republicans.
Walker said Thursday he believed such debate makes his party’s field stronger.
“We’re going to be tested out there,” he said. “We’re going to have to try out our ideas for those of us who may or may not get in.”
“We’re going to have to go to the American people, state by state, state our case, make the argument strong,” he added. “It’s exciting.”
Walker has not yet publicly declared his White House plans.
The Wisconsin governor has hinted he will reveal his intentions after his state’s budget is completed next month.