The Obama Doctrine: Vote “Present” March 2011

Photo courtesy of www.pbs.org

The office of the President of the United States bears an incredible amount of responsibility, both at home and abroad. Part of this responsibility, and probably the most interesting aspect of the presidency, is your personal influence on world affairs. A president’s statements will undoubtedly be broadcast to the world stage, and despite whether other nations actually want to hear your opinion or not, they generally understand that they must heed the U.S. president’s words due to the United States’ recognition as the world’s hegemon. Nations will often publicly condemn US foreign policy decisions and then reverse course and publicly request US guidance and support, sometimes within days or weeks of their original condemnation, based on statements’ and political moves made by the President and his cabinet. Despite some of academia’s disagreement with this assertion, all nations of the world act in their own self-interest (this, for non-IR students, is a major issue between Realist theory and liberalism), thus it best serves nations to listen to and comply with the United States’ stated policy. The hegemonic power of the United States, comprised of both hard and soft power, is in part enforced and maintained through our president’s foreign policy decisions; thus, our American way of life depends on effective and decisive leadership. Unfortunately for our great nation, President Obama resents America’s hegemonic role in the world and has expressed disdain for his foreign policy responsibilities. During every major crisis of his presidency, President Obama has chosen to take the middle ground and both American citizens and inhabitants of other nations are suffering the consequences. Our current president has been the only president during my lifetime who has based every decision on its political impact with regard to his popularity and legacy. Just as Illinois State Senator Obama chose to vote “present” on important legislation, he has chosen to vote “present” on his foreign policy decisions.

Welcome to the Obama Doctrine:

2007- President Obama: “…Barack Obama would meet with Iran’s leaders and offer economic inducements and a possible promise not to seek “regime change” if Iran stopped meddling in Iraq and cooperated on terrorism and nuclear issues.”- interview with NY Times

2008- President Obama: “I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture. And I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral stature in the world.”- interview on 60 Minutes

2009- Gave gifts of 25 classic American DVDs (ones that do not work in GB) and returned a bust of Winston Churchill given to us by the British after 9/11 to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in exchange for a pen made out of the HMS Gannet (an anti-slavery ship), a framed commissioning paper for the HMS Resolute (the ship used to create the president’s desk in the Oval Office) and a first edition copy of Winston Churchill’s biography.

2009- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave Russia a reset button to symbolize a clean slate in our relationship. Unfortunately, the Russian translation of “reset” was incorrect and instead the button read “overcharged.”

2009- President Obama graced Queen Elizabeth II of England with the gift of an Ipod.

2009- The US condemns Israel for commando raid on the six-ship flotilla intending to provide aid to the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Israel claims the ships were sent to provide illegal products to the Gaza Strip and that the commandos acted in self-defense. President Obama’s relationship with Israel continues to be strained.

2009- President Obama backs down on implementing the missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland. Part of his effort to reconstitute our relationship with Russia, the decision upset our allies and provided Russia with a major strategic victory.

2009- President Obama does not take decisive action to support the Green Revolution in Iran and the corrupt re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stands. Protestors are violently suppressed and the US releases a statement condemning the violence.

2009-2010- After spending three months reviewing the war in Afghanistan, President Obama increases the troop levels to just over 100,000 without a clearly defined strategy. Then, after publicly stating that the US will not be engaging in a nation-building operation in Afghanistan, continues to have our military build roads, irrigation canals, and put up electric grids.

2009-2010- The US Justice Department decides it will be a good idea to try terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay Prison in New York City and Washington, DC. The decision is also made to move the prisoners from Gitmo to a maximum security prison in Illinois. Neither initiative works out and Gitmo remains open and fully functional.

2010- President Obama at the G-20 conference, when asked if he believes in American exceptionalism, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”

2010- President Obama fails to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt settlement construction in the West Bank and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas states that the talks are in crisis. Obama offers Israel 20 F-35 fighters worth $3 billion to halt settlements for three months but Netanyahu refuses and the talks fail.

2010- President Obama ratifies the START II treaty, drastically reducing our nuclear weapon stockpile. Obama failed to understand that the Russian ICBM stockpile was already outdated and they could not afford to upgrade their weapons. Russia wins again.

2010- A mysterious computer virus hits the Iranian nuclear program and wreaks havoc on their system; the perpetrator(s) are still unknown. President Obama has still neglected to sit down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and discuss a peaceful solution to our disagreements.

2011- Egypt rises up against their president Hosni Mubarak and President Obama neglects to make a statement until a week after the protests began. He eventually stated he supported democracy and peaceful protest and condemned the use of violence against the protestors. He then came out and stated that Mubarak needed to step down and the world waited. And waited. Finally, Mubarak flees and Egypt becomes a state controlled by the military.

2011- Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi makes the decision to bomb protestors who are rebelling against his government. President Obama does nothing for a few weeks and then publicly condemns Gaddafi and states he must relinquish power. Meanwhile, Gaddafi is massacring thousands of his citizens while the United Nations balks on enforcing a No-Fly Zone (primarily because the US and Russia are not willing to enforce it). More on this next week.

2011- Allegedly expressed to his aides his displeasure with the foreign policy aspect of the presidency and commented on how much easier it would be to be the president of China.

 

Stress, Pressure, and an Irrevocable Mistake: The Crushing Weight of the War in Afghanistan

Last Wednesday, June 23, 2010, Four-star General Stanley McChrystal, commanding officer of US forces in Afghanistan, was forced to resign following a meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office. McChrystal’s resignation was the result of a unfortunate article in Rolling Stone magazine in which he and his aides spoke freely about their discontent with the war, the US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, and Vice President Joe Biden. Upon receiving the article from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, President Obama is said to have become incredibly angry and ordered General McChrystal to fly to Washington the next morning. During the post-meeting remarks, President Obama praised McChrystal’s military career and informed the American people of his decision to replace McChrystal with General David Petraeus, the commander of all NATO forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. Unfortunately for President Obama, the war in Afghanistan has become front page news as the war in Iraq winds down. Afghanistan has now truly become Mr. Obama’s war.

General McChrystal’s resignation is unfortunate, untimely, and a disgrace to his distinguished military career. Although I am upset and wish the circumstances could have been different, I am in complete agreement with President Obama’s assessment of the situation and his replacement for General McChrystal. A four-star general should never have such a disastrous lapse in judgement and his actions put President Obama in an uncomfortable position.

The forced resignation of General McChrystal has spawned new discussions with regard to the war, primarily over two issues: 1. Whether General Petraeus will be able to turn the war in Afghanistan around as he did with the surge in Iraq in 2006 or not and, 2. Can we effectively manage a counterinsurgency with a withdrawal date of July 2011?

General Petraeus is an incredible military strategist who presumably has what it takes to turn our nine years of war into a success for the US, the people of Afghanistan, and the security of the Western world. However, there is an obvious division between the civilian and military thinkers. The civilian side (Obama Administration) believes we must leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. President Obama’s decision to increase our troop levels last fall was the result of intelligence reports indicating the great possibility of a Taliban-led takeover of Pakistan were we to prematurely withdraw our forces. Should the Taliban manage the takeover of the Pakistani government, dozens of nuclear warheads would be at their disposal and the world would be in peril. I am sure President Obama made his decision with a substantial amount of regret- ordering more troops to Afghanistan was the first step towards making it his war. The second and final step occurred last Wednesday with the resignation and replacement of his commanding officer. However, I digress. The military side of the equation is obviously fed up with our current strategy, even though they provided their input during the assessment last fall. We are having a difficult time securing the small city of Marja with little hope of taking on the city of Kandahar any time soon. Additionally, you have many soldiers and commanders expressing their frustration over the rules of engagement, thus creating an air of discontent from top to bottom. We must rely on the superhero qualities of General Petraeus and he, alone, must begin discussing victory. It is obvious the Obama Administration is highly reluctant to utter such a hawkish word and the American people need positive input in order to maintain its necessary popularity.

I find it surprising that we have been in Afghanistan for nine years and the war is still pretty popular. Our population has never been one to support lengthy military engagements and I am glad to see our citizenry maintaining support for such an important endeavor. However, the outcome of the war hangs in the balance. Should we stick to the withdrawal date of July 2011, Afghan President Hamid Karzai will continue to forge his alliance with the Taliban and all of our fallen men and women will have died in vain. We are now relying on a general who has proven himself in Iraq but has yet to face the complexities of Afghanistan. The fate of the entire Western world is now on his shoulders.

Well, that’s all I have for this week! I want to thank each and every one of you for continuing to access A New America and as always, there is more to come.