Joe Klein writes for Time magazine. In his latest column, this reliable liberal examines the Syrian policy of president Obama. Here is the essence of his view:
[Obama] willingly jumped into a bear trap of his own creation. In the process, he has damaged his presidency and weakened the nation’s standing in the world. It has been one of the more stunning and inexplicable displays of presidential incompetence that I’ve ever witnessed.
Klein then goes on to say that Obama thinks he can do foreign policy all by himself and that the fault here is that the staff around Obama was too weak to get him to recognize the right thing to do.
It is an analysis that only a liberal true believer could write. Oh, Klein is not a liberal brain-dead cheerleader like Nancy Pelosi who calls the current mess a "victory" for Obama. Klein, at least, recognizes the disaster of a policy that Obama has pursued. But to call this a "stunning" or "inexplicable" display of presidential incompetence, Klein has to have expected Obama to do better than this. The problem, however, is that Obama's bumbling on Syria was neither stunning or inexplicable. It was just another day in the Obama White House, the place where American foreign policy goes to die. After all, Obama is the president who followed a policy of open handed friendship towards Iran; a policy which clearly has not worked as the Iranians close in on their nuclear weapons. Obama is the president who decided that the way to win friends in the Middle East was to apologize for America's past misdeeds rather than to act from strength to further our national interests. That policy, too, has totally failed and we have reaped the whirlwind that Obama sowed. Obama is also the president who decided that the special relationship with the UK was to be jettisoned. He insulted the Brits and did not even side with them when Argentina once again threatened the Falkland Islands. Chalk up another failed policy for Obama; the UK got the last laugh when Parliament would not support Obama's latest foray regarding Syria. And who can forget the astounding "reset" button that Obama produced to breakthrough the past troubles in our relations with Russia. We should have known that policy would fail when the Obamacrats could not even spell the word reset correctly on the button. But, spelling aside, Obama's new relationship with Russia has been a dismal failure. Just within the last month, Obama refused to meet with Putin because Russia is giving sanctuary to Edward Snowden. On top of this Obama also undercut the Polish and Czech governments by removing anti-missile systems in exchange for hope-for Russian concessions that never came. More Obama failure. Then there is Iraq. After spending nearly a decade winning the war there, America under Obama took all its forces out and left the fragile Iraqi government subject to the enormous pressure that its neighbor Iran could put on that country. Iraq is a truly major failure by Obama.
The point is that Obama's attempts at foreign policy have been a nightmare for American interests and for peace in the world. I could list at least another ten high profile failures by Obama in this area during the last five years. But there are no successes. So, after five years of constant failure in the foreign policy sphere, there is no reason why his current disaster should be inexplicable or stunning or unexpected. It is all just more of the same.
[Obama] willingly jumped into a bear trap of his own creation. In the process, he has damaged his presidency and weakened the nation’s standing in the world. It has been one of the more stunning and inexplicable displays of presidential incompetence that I’ve ever witnessed.
Klein then goes on to say that Obama thinks he can do foreign policy all by himself and that the fault here is that the staff around Obama was too weak to get him to recognize the right thing to do.
It is an analysis that only a liberal true believer could write. Oh, Klein is not a liberal brain-dead cheerleader like Nancy Pelosi who calls the current mess a "victory" for Obama. Klein, at least, recognizes the disaster of a policy that Obama has pursued. But to call this a "stunning" or "inexplicable" display of presidential incompetence, Klein has to have expected Obama to do better than this. The problem, however, is that Obama's bumbling on Syria was neither stunning or inexplicable. It was just another day in the Obama White House, the place where American foreign policy goes to die. After all, Obama is the president who followed a policy of open handed friendship towards Iran; a policy which clearly has not worked as the Iranians close in on their nuclear weapons. Obama is the president who decided that the way to win friends in the Middle East was to apologize for America's past misdeeds rather than to act from strength to further our national interests. That policy, too, has totally failed and we have reaped the whirlwind that Obama sowed. Obama is also the president who decided that the special relationship with the UK was to be jettisoned. He insulted the Brits and did not even side with them when Argentina once again threatened the Falkland Islands. Chalk up another failed policy for Obama; the UK got the last laugh when Parliament would not support Obama's latest foray regarding Syria. And who can forget the astounding "reset" button that Obama produced to breakthrough the past troubles in our relations with Russia. We should have known that policy would fail when the Obamacrats could not even spell the word reset correctly on the button. But, spelling aside, Obama's new relationship with Russia has been a dismal failure. Just within the last month, Obama refused to meet with Putin because Russia is giving sanctuary to Edward Snowden. On top of this Obama also undercut the Polish and Czech governments by removing anti-missile systems in exchange for hope-for Russian concessions that never came. More Obama failure. Then there is Iraq. After spending nearly a decade winning the war there, America under Obama took all its forces out and left the fragile Iraqi government subject to the enormous pressure that its neighbor Iran could put on that country. Iraq is a truly major failure by Obama.
The point is that Obama's attempts at foreign policy have been a nightmare for American interests and for peace in the world. I could list at least another ten high profile failures by Obama in this area during the last five years. But there are no successes. So, after five years of constant failure in the foreign policy sphere, there is no reason why his current disaster should be inexplicable or stunning or unexpected. It is all just more of the same.
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