Blog Post

AEIdeas

As the final quarter of the Obama administration begins, threats are growing worldwide. Yet the president’s focus remains the same from his first six years in office for the last two: on domestic issues. Mr. Obama continues to believe the false hope that domestic and foreign policy matters can be cleanly separated even though peace abroad underwrites economic security and prosperity here at home.

While the president talked of enacting a policy of American internationalism in his State of the Union remarks, global realities belie that claim. Similar to the themes in his most recent state of the union address, five foreign policy quotes from Mr. Obama throughout the years highlight his penchant for prioritizing rhetoric over action. Now we know it will be more of the same after last night:

“Leading from behind.” America’s limited no-fly zone in Libya that failed to finish the job by safeguarding weapons caches, securing the borders and ensuring a stable government was in place after Qaddafi fell is, in many ways, a microcosm of the larger foreign policy failures of this administration. In the White House’s rush to avoid anything that looks like Iraq-style reconstruction, US attention quickly faded following the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi. In the ensuing vacuum, radical and terrorist groups took advantage of the ungoverned country and continue to do so until this day. Unsurprisingly, the “leading from behind” formulation was simply shorthand for “not leading.” “The tide of war is receding.” Addressing the United Nations in September 2011, President Obama argued that with America’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, a more peaceful future was at hand. Unfortunately in Iraq where US forces have returned after an abrupt withdrawal—and as is looking increasingly likely in Afghanistan—a reduced American footprint untied to the situation on the ground led not to the triumph of peace and stability but of chaos and violent extremism. “Don’t do stupid stuff.” For this White House, “don’t do stupid stuff” seems to be code for “don’t invade Iraq—2003 style” and little else. As former Obama Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has argued correctly, “’Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle.” Rather, it is symptomatic of a Groundhog Day approach to foreign policy that causes tunnel vision where the first answer to every question is to not commit forces to reconstruction of a nation even if it is in our best interest in the long-run. This has led to a series of foreign policy decisions designed to minimize American involvement in crises—decisions which have tended to only make these problems worse. “We don’t have a strategy yet.” After months of Islamic State gains across Iraq and Syria—and after the now infamous backing off of America’s “red line” against Bashar al-Assad—President Obama finally authorized a modest air campaign against the group. Although the airstrikes began on August 8th, three weeks later, the President admitted that he did not yet have an overarching strategy to defeat this threat. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel went on to highlight the administration’s contradictory strategy in Syria, for instance, in a widely-reported memo that contributed to his rift with the White House and ultimately his early departure. “The shadow of crisis has passed.” Lacking from last night’s state of the union speech was any recognition that challenges to America and its allies are mounting daily, including naked Russian aggression in Europe continuing, the reign of ISIS growing, deadly terror attacks increasing, new cyber and espionage plots causing increasing economic harm, and a more assertive China charting new norms for standards of conduct in the Asia-Pacific region. These pressures did not emerge overnight. Rather, they materialized in a world increasingly void of American leadership, where the White House has substituted hollow words in the place of vigorous international engagement. As Americans have now learned well, hope is not a strategy.

Saying things does not make them so—even if those words are spoken during the State of the Union. All too often, the White House has contented itself to proclaim that wars are over when they’re not, or enemies are defeated when they are reconstituting before our eyes, or that sequestration will never happen instead of rolling up its sleeves and working actively towards those outcomes. The consequences of this emphasis of rhetoric over action is why few will remember anything the president said on Tuesday about foreign policy by Friday.

Follow AEIdeas on Twitter at @AEIdeas.