IMHO any other candidate will dither when action is clearly needed. They range from late to the party reactive to full on ostrich w/t head in the sand, this war will by nature spill to every corner of our solar system. It is better to begin steering it and shaping it proactively than to wait and suffer from poor choices by other leaders and inaction on our part.
Solidly wants to Cash and Carry the Team, give them the Guns and let them do the fighting. Classic FDR Pre Pearl Harbor.
It is explicitly stated that Damos is also willing to act, he is just more aware how charging in head first with an emotionally exausted people is likely asking for disaster, so he wants to do as much as he can outside of actually declaring war, much like FDR in WW2.
I don't think our people are ready to charge into a distant war, our people are war weary thanks to the war for survival at the start of the quest, so throwing people into the grinder can easily be a big mistake, just as much as not acting at all. We also need to fight the propaganda war, and just charging in could leave us wide open for Gihren to do his thing...
We are very much an America expy, war weariness as well, so we really need to consider that. Churchill done so well because HITLER WAS RIGHT THERE! America, and Orthys are all the way that away, with vast distances to insulate us from events elsewhere, which only exasperates the situation.
Edit: Specifically, Damos almost certainly recognizes the situation for what it it, but knows that he needs to provoke Zeon to act against Orthys to give a rallying cry for the country.
