Perle is a veteran conservative Democrat who held a key Pentagon job in the Republican 1980s. He has since become rich and says he doesn't want to return to government. But Perle does. They view every foreign policy issue in terms of how things will look. Lots of people have died as a result of their concentration on appearances.
Presidents hold wide latitude in how they act abroad.
History shows that specific foreign policy issues raised in campaigns are rarely the same ones that officeholders must confront. So evidence of strong character and good judgment are key tests of what to expect. When the Bush political calendar called for a high-profile foreign policy rollout, the advisers Bush chose and where he chose to speak were as helpful to his prospects as anything he had to say. His eight core advisers worked mostly in second-level but nevertheless pivotal government posts, either for his father or for Ronald Reagan. Given the uniform hard-line foreign policy views of his chief counselors, it's hard to see how Bush could be credibly attacked from the right.