Obama’s Thinking re: Foreign Affairs

The April cover story of Atlantic Magazine is written by Jeffrey Goldberg. A national correspondent, Goldberg tracked down Obama for face to face interviews over a three month period – in the White House, aboard Air Force One and one in Malaysia. He did background work with Obama’s top national security and foreign policy staff and advisers as well. This is a long work (19 pages) because of the depth and detail covered. In short, read the article for an understanding of Obama’s strong performance in foreign affairs during his tenure.

Goldberg believes ‘The Obama Doctrine’ is visible throughout all of this. It is: military action has limits per each situation and is to be used sparingly; regions have their own cultural disputes they must own and manage; America is not the global community’s war machine.

Goldberg quotes President Obama: “I had come into office with the strong belief that the scope of executive power in national security issues is very broad, but not limitless. Where am I controversial? When it comes to the use of military power. That is the source of the controversy. There’s a playbook in Washington that presidents are supposed to follow. And the playbook prescribes responses to different events, and these responses tend to be militarized responses. Where America is directly threatened, the playbook works. But the playbook can also be a trap that can lead to bad decisions. In the midst of an international challenge like Syria, you get judged harshly if you don’t follow the playbook, even if there are good reasons why it does not apply.”

To that I say Amen! Restraint is the hardest reaction to manage but is often the most valuable and effective.

A thinking president uses his intellectual gifts. Obama did this in deciding not to strike Syria with missiles. In his words, Obama states: “I’m very proud of this moment. The overwhelming weight of conventional wisdom and the machinery of our national security apparatus has gone fairly far. The perception was that my credibility was at stake, that America’s credibility was at stake. And so for me to push the pause button at that moment, I knew, would cost me politically. And the fact that I was about to pull back from the immediate pressures and think through in my own mind what was in America’s interest, not only with respect to Syria but also with respect to our democracy, was as tough a decision as I’ve made – and I believe ultimately it was the right decision to make.” Goldberg claims US allies and Obama’s own cabinet and advisors were stunned by the decision. Even Secretary of State John Kerry was flummoxed by the decision and repeatedly urged the president to strike Syria with missiles. Obama is reported as announcing that no one except the secretary of defense should bring him proposals for military action.

On  the Middle East, Goldberg suggests that the chaos in Libya proved to Obama that the Middle East was best avoided. Obama said: “There is no way we should commit to governing the Middle East and North Africa. That would be a basic, fundamental mistake.” “Right now, I don’t think anybody can be feeling good about the situation in the Middle East. You have countries that are failing to provide prosperity and opportunity for their people. You’ve got a violent, extremist ideology, or ideologies, that are turbocharged through social media. You’ve got countries that have very few civic traditions, so that as autocratic regimes start fraying, the only organizing principles are sectarian.”

On ISIS, Obama believes it is like the Joker in Batman. Obama says, “These are men who had the city divided up. They were thugs, but there was a kind of order. Everyone had turf. And then the Joker comes in and lights the whole city on fire. ISIL is the Joker. It has the capacity to set the whole region on fire. That’s why we have to fight it.”  But the president goes on and states this dichotomy: “ISIS is not an existential threat to the United States. Climate change is a potential existential threat to the entire world if we don’t do something about it.” That gives us a powerful thought to ponder. It also provides insight to how the president’s mind works incisively.

Goldberg develops a strong line from Obama that Saudi Arabia should play a much more inclusive role in the Middle East. According to Obama, “The competition between the Saudis and the Iranians – which has helped to feed proxy wars and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Yemen – requires us to say to our friends as well as to the Iranians that they need to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace.”  Finally a sensible suggestion to a fiery region of the world.

On other matters the Atlantic Article provides these Obama positions:

Libya: European nations, especially Britain and France, should have done more to help solve the Libyan problem. They are the closest to the region and have the most to lose.

Ukraine: Obama believes Ukraine is not a core American interest and he is thus reluctant to intervene in the country. Russia will always be able to maintain escalatory dominance there.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: Obama thinks Netanyahu doesn’t think the president understands the pressures and political consequences in the Middle East vis a vis Israel. But as an elected President in a divided United States who won the White House twice, Obama told Netanyahu to stop the lecturing. He does understand the situation as well as he does.

Vladimir Putin: Obama is reported as saying: “The truth is, actually, Putin, in all of our meetings, is scrupulously polite, very frank. Our meetings are very businesslike. He never keeps me waiting two hours like he does a bunch of these other folks. He’s constantly interested in being seen as our peer and as working with us, because he’s not completely stupid. He understands that Russia’s overall position in the world is significantly diminished.”

The article helps us understand the strengths of President Obama as a world leader. He is serious about the role. And he is serious about not involving America in fruitless and expensive side trips that only confuse and worsen conditions.

I think at home Obama has been dismissed for racist reasons. That is something our nation will need to repair in the near future. Meanwhile, it is apparent that Obama’s intellect is intact and magnificent. He understands domestic and foreign issues better perhaps than any president in recent memory. The political climate of his presidency has been poisonous to anyone who would have won the White House. But especially for him for cultural reasons beyond his control.

Just imagine what it would have been like with any other person in the White House during the past 8 years! I tremble at the thought.

And I tremble now because of the poisonous political campaigns now rolling across the nation.

March 21, 2016