There’s a sense among establishment political punditry that Barack Obama has been a pretty good foreign policy president. The most recent example of this point of view is in David Brooks’ New York Times column last week, in which he states in the first sentence of the column that “Barack Obama has been a good foreign policy President.”
Now if one considers just how disastrous a domestic policy president Barack Obama has proven to be, then perhaps Obama’s foreign policy record doesn’t seem so bad. That being said, I would submit that Barack Obama has been every bit as disastrous on the international scene as he has been on the domestic front.
Let me explain. First of all, it’s a rare occasion when the President or one his flacks says anything without throwing in “We got Bin Laden.” And that’s a very good thing. But is there any doubt that a President McCain or a President Romney would have made the same decision under the same circumstances? Of course not
Another example. Our closest ally in the Middle East for decades has been Israel. So what does Obama do? He has publicly distanced himself from Israel, and with all of his traveling around the world since becoming president, he’s been there a total of – ZERO times.
On the other hand, Obama, right out of the box, cozied up to our most dangerous rival in the region – Iran. Then Obama stood by silently while Iranian tyrants stole the election in 2009, and thousands of innocent protestors were brutalized, raped, and murdered in the streets. And Obama’s olive branch to Iran’s mullahs has gotten him nowhere – Iran is now closer to obtaining nuclear weapons capability than ever before.
In Syria, Bashar Al-Assad continues to mow down innocent civilians with impunity, and what we get from president Obama is – platitudes. There are many options available short of U.S. boots on the ground there, but thus far, action from the Obama Administration has been too little, too late.
The Administration’s mishandling of Egypt has been breathtaking. After wavering, waffling, and ultimately abandoning Mubarak (much to the chagrin of our important ally Saudi Arabia), we are now witnessing a previously Pro-American Egypt turning to a Muslim Brotherhood government. This could have potentially disastrous consequences to our ally Israel, as well as to the United States.
In Iraq, after the U.S has expended considerable amounts of blood and treasure, Obama precipitously pulled out virtually all U.S. military forces, thus risking all our gains, which were won at such a high cost. And filling the vacuum in Iraq is now likely to be Iraq’s neighbor, our own nemesis, Iran.
The rush for the door in Iraq is, to a considerable degree, being repeated in Afghanistan. Although it’s impossible to predict for sure, it’s quite likely that rather than stability and a reliable U.S. ally, we’ll see the Taliban back in power.
Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time low. And that’s despite caving in to Russian pressure when we abandoned our commitments to missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, loyal U.S. allies.
China is dramatically ramping up its military capabilities, as Obama pushes for drastic cuts in our military. Hugo Chavez continues to go unchecked in Venezuela. The Mexican drug wars are spiraling out of control. And on and on.
Barack Obama, a pretty good foreign policy President? Hardly.