Throughout his career, he has straddled being tough on defense with being tough on spending.

As he looks for any way to steal a march on Jeb Bush, John Kasich has a problem familiar to many a governor aspiring to be president: How do I prove I’m ready to be America’s commander in chief?

His strategy boils down to two arguments:

1) I’m a budget hawk.

2) I’m just like Ronald Reagan.

*But more spending for the Navy is a good idea.

What sets Kasich apart from other governors seeking to bolster their national security cred is that he’s also aimed to tightly intertwine his background on cutting spending and balancing budgets with defense. That was on full display on Monday ahead of Kasich’s appearance at an Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security forum.

Kasich, in an op-ed for CNN, mentioned being on the House Armed Services Committee for 18 years, but also sought to re-frame his reputation as a budget hardliner as another form of national security experience.

Reagan, he said, saw the “link between a strong economy and strong national security” — and today that means “taking on America’s $18 trillion debt and $463 billion deficit — the two greatest barriers to the economic growth.

The next president must know how to balance budgets and keep them balanced, because it is the first thing we must do to keep America safe,” he wrote.

Kasich’s main exception to fiscal rectitude, it seems, is his call to expand the Navy. He linked to a bipartisan report that called for expanding the U.S. fleet to as many as 346 ships, well above its current number.

According to Kasich’s campaign, more than a half-dozen foreign policy advisers have had the governor’s ear: former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, former Reagan national security adviser Richard V. Allen; former Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman, Jr.; Frank J. Cilluffo, an expert on counterterrorism and cybersecurity at George Washington University; A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard, the former executive director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Herman Pirchner, Jr., the president of the American Foreign Policy Council, and former Aspen Institute Berlin CEO Charles King Mallory IV.

Kasich throughout his career has straddled being tough on defense with being tough on spending. About two decades ago, for instance, he resisted a push to increase funding to purchase more B-2 bombers constructed by Northrop Grumman. Kasich, at the time, argued that there were “enormous savings” to be had by overhauling the Department of Defense.
On Sunday Kasich, who in November 2002 voiced clear support for going to war with Iraq, said that with the information available today he would not “have committed ourselves to Iraq.” In February of this year, as Kasich was gearing up to jump into the presidential race, he also suggested that fighting the Islamic State likely meant a coalition of countries working together and “ultimately some boots on the ground to stop the advancement of that group.”
At Monday night’s forum, Kasich positioned himself as a thrifty national security hawk.
“We have about 10 carriers now, my goal would be to get closer to 15. And you’ve got to have the ability to project power when you get there,” Kasich said, before immediately circling back to the budget.
“I don’t know as much about budgets as some people,” he said somewhat sarcastically. “I’ve only written 16 of them. And so it’s all about priorities. It’s all about making sure you get the most you can out of the government that you have.”
Kasich also reiterated that the U.S. would probably need ground troops to defeat the Islamic State, praised New York Sen. Chuck Schumer’s opposition to President Obama’s Iran deal, and called Edward Snowden a “traitor” for releasing information on the government’s wiretapping program.
He also dinged Obama for refusing to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last spring in the weeks before Israel’s elections. “I don’t care if it’s the next day, I’m going to have a cup of coffee,” he said.