A somber John Kasich took the stage Saturday at a major Republican gathering in Florida, casting aside his normal presidential stump speech to instead reflect on the Paris attacks and call for a major geopolitical move.
“Today, NATO should invoke Article 5 of our NATO agreement, which basically says an attack on an ally is an attack on us and an attack on all of the Western world,” the Ohio governor said to applause. “We as Americans must assert leadership and we need to stand shoulder to shoulder with France and the French people. This is a moment to bring us together.”
The last time the provision in the North Atlantic Treaty was used was in the days after the September 11, 2001 attacks, when a coalition of countries invaded Afghanistan — an effort that continues to this day.
It’s a serious call that set Kasich apart from the rest of the Republican presidential candidates who spoke at the Sunshine Summit, an event hosted by the Florida GOP. While a number of candidates delivered strong rhetoric urging more military action to take out ISIS, none besides Kasich made such a specific pitch.
“I don’t know that this is a time for political criticism or the blame game, but I must say, that we as a nation, the United States of America, is not showing leadership,” he said. “We just have not shown leadership.”
Kasich said President Barack Obama needs to go to Europe and convene meetings with allies to work on intelligence operations and “develop plans for joint military action to destroy ISIS.”
Talking to reporters after his speech, he described Article 5 as a “good organizing tool and a good method to get joint action.”
Pressed on how he would avoid a 14-year conflict like the one that’s resulted from the last use of Article 5, Kasich said he believes ISIS “can be destroyed with an effective coalition” and “with the firepower that we need.”
“I am not a person that believes in nation building,” he said. “Nation building is not something for us to risk our men and women in uniform to do. Take care of business and come home.”
