In the Homestretch, Obama Comes on Strong (Serge Schmann) from the New York Times
"This was the week the president went before the United Nations General Assembly and proclaimed, in effect, that the United States was back out front again — not only against the brutality of Islamic terrorists, which “forces us to look into the heart of darkness,” but also against Russia’s vision that “might makes right,” against the spread of Ebola, against global warming."
I do not share this pundit's view that Obama's leadership has been somehow lacking because he has not been "out front" on these issues. I think a key to Obama's foreign policy has been the view that other powers (re: Europe) need to step up and take on more in "global security" issues, especially when it comes to crises that are far more threats to their own regional interests than they are threats to the US. Examples: (1) the Ukraine situation vis-a-vis Europe; (2) Syria and US's ally, Turkey; and (3) Libya and NATO allies Italy and the other European Med countries. In each of these cases, these regional powers would have liked nothing better than for the US to be way out front and to do virtually ALL the heavy lifting to stabilize nearby crisis zones. In each of these cases, these regional powers would have allowed the US to assume all the risks, all the costs, and all the blame for the outcomes. Obama, in contrast, has been very (and appropriately in my view) chary about taking this course; and instead has insisted on these regional allies pulling their own weight in matters that primarily threaten their interests and are of lesser concern to the US. Only in neo-con land is it of primary importance that the US spend American lives and treasure willy-nilly as we make sure everyone knows what a big, bad superpower we are.
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