Leading From Behind

From National Review: 

Cruz’s critics see politics at play in his support for the Freedom Act, which revised a number of provisions in the Patriot Act and reformed the NSA’s metadata program, outsourcing its collection of phone records to telecommunications companies. On foreign affairs, the views of the party’s right flank can shift quickly from war-weariness to hawkishness, and the past few years have seen the GOP move away from the non-interventionism espoused by the likes of Rand Paul toward a more muscular foreign policy as the threat of ISIS has come more clearly into view.

Cruz voted for the Freedom Act in June. Back then, “he thought Rand Paul was his chief competitor, and now that we have renewed threats to our national security, he’s trying to act like he’s the Reagan in the field, and he’s not,” Noble says. “He has not been consistent in protecting the homeland.”