( CNN ) -- Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton have dueling opinion pieces about foreign policy in The Washington Post on Friday , but neither former presidential candidate appeared to take a stand on the current debate dominating the foreign policy arena : how to deal with ISIS . Reviewing former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger 's book `` World Order , '' Clinton writes that she and President Barack Obama share a similar world view as Kissinger , one that 's rooted in `` a belief in the indispensability of continued American leadership in service of a just and liberal order . '' Showing off its crimes : How ISIS flaunts its brutality as propaganda . Clinton , who 's thinking about another run for president in 2016 , argues that what makes the country a leader is not only its military strength but its `` soft power '' -- its values , relationships and diplomacy . She likes to call it `` smart power . '' While she does n't mention the emerging crisis related to ISIS , she writes , `` it 's time for another of our great debates about what America means to the world and what the world means to America . '' `` We need to have an honest conversation together -- all of us -- about the costs and imperatives of global leadership , and what it really takes to keep our country safe and strong , '' the Democrat writes . Romney , in his op-ed , argues that the dominating force that keeps the U.S. on top is its military strength and that one ca n't equate that with soft-power values . Widely seen as the GOP 's party elder , Romney warns that decreasing military budgets can lead to disastrous outcomes . `` The most ludicrous excuse for shrinking our military derives from the president 's thinking : 'Things are much less dangerous now than they were 20 years ago , 25 years ago or 30 years ago . ' The 'safer world ' trial balloon has been punctured by recent events in Ukraine , Afghanistan , Libya , Egypt , Gaza , Nigeria , Somalia , Syria and Iraq , '' the 2012 GOP nominee writes. `` 'Failures of imagination ' led to tragedy 13 years ago ; today , no imagination is required to picture what would descend on the United States if we let down our guard , '' he continues . Former Boston man may be helping with chilling ISIS social media , source says . While both spell out a general sense of their ideas on American leadership , neither offers a clear position on the current dilemma over how Obama should go about dismantling ISIS , the Islamist militant group seeking to create a `` caliphate '' in the Middle East . `` We have Hillary Clinton sort of arguing in the abstract for this sort of pragmatism , and interestingly aligning herself with the legacy of Henry Kissinger ... but she does n't give any answer , she does n't take sides on any of the debates going on , '' Molly Ball of The Atlantic said Friday on CNN 's `` Inside Politics with John King . '' `` And Romney is the same way , '' she continues . `` He 's saying we should n't cut the military . Well , that 's not the debate we 're having right now . '' The dueling op-eds also set the stage for the next two political cycles . On CNN , King asked whether foreign policy would become the major conversation driver in the midterm elections and become the early big topic in the 2016 debate . Ball argued that it will probably be `` background noise '' in the upcoming elections but wo n't be a decisive factor , as most races will still be based on the economy and state-specific issues . `` But absolutely , this is going to be the debate in 2016 , especially with Hillary Clinton at the center of it , '' she said . Jackie Kucinich of The Washington Post said , `` Traditionally , voters do n't really vote on foreign policy , and you wonder if Hillary Clinton , as a candidate potentially , if that 's going to change , '' she added .
Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton have contrasting viewpoints on foreign policy . Both have previously run for president , and Clinton is thinking about running in 2012 . Political observers expect foreign policy to be a leading topic in upcoming elections .