(HOST) According to polls out this week, public support for President Obama’s foreign policies has slipped significantly in recent months. This morning commentator Barrie Dunsmore examines what’s gone wrong for a president who began with such enormous public good will, both at home and abroad.
(DUNSMORE) I believe President Obama established the correct theme for his foreign policy, when he rejected the notion of this country as the world’s only mega-super power that can do as it pleases – in favor of an America that is willing to lead but recognizes that in this new, globally interconnected world, no country can go it alone.
Some of his supporters suggest that he has been unlucky in the international crises he inherited. It’s true he was handed two wars and a very messy world. But rising to such challenges is what good presidents are expected to do.
So far, in the implementation of his policies – for example, in the Arab-Israeli dispute and in Afghanistan – Obama has yet to demonstrate any success. In fact, things seem to be getting worse. By putting the Israelis on notice that they must stop building new settlements in Arab territory- and then backing off when Prime Minister Netanyahu essentially told him to take a hike – Obama weakened the Palestinian leadership not to mention his own credibility. I recognize that threatening a cut in Israeli economic and/or military aid would meet with great resistance in Congress. But if he wasn’t willing to back up his demands about freezing settlements, he should not have made them. So for now the Israeli – Palestinian so-called peace process is effectively dead.
In Afghanistan, Obama’s early assessment was that unlike Iraq, it was "the good war." Starting last spring, he began to add more than 20,000 American troops. Then he was trapped when the war turned sour and his new general there said he needed another 40,000 soldiers. I support Obama’s current more thoughtful analysis to develop a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan which are inseparably linked – but whatever he decides to do now, after eight years this war is far from over.
Still, for all the major, dangerous problems out there, there have been two news items in recent days that reminded me of why Americans elected Obama.
Item One: This week, the president made the traditional bow of respect to the Emperor of Japan. That was not unusual. Among other American presidents, Eisenhower and Nixon had done so. Still, Obama’s bow caused former Vice- President Dick Cheney to growl, "There is no reason for an American president to bow to anyone. Our friends and allies don’t expect it and our enemies see it as a sign of weakness."
Item Two: When it was announced that the mastermind and four others responsible for the 9/11 tragedy will be brought from Guantanamo Bay to this country for trial, those same critics who usually prefer confrontation to negotiation began wailing that this will put the country – and especially New York City- in grave danger.
These items lead me to wonder what serves this country better – the politics of insecurity and fear- or the politics of confidence and hope? Barack Obama was elected because he represented the latter. So, by the way, was Ronald Reagan.
(TAG) You can find more commentaries by Barrie Dunsmore on line at VPR-dot-net.