Obama, Putin and More: Ending the Term on the Offensive

The relationships of mutual trust built by the U.S. and its European allies with Moscow in the last decades are being put under strain by hard evidence.

Barack Obama’s actions and words, not his pictures, will make his exit from the world’s stage dramatic. Today is the time for dispute; January 20 will be dedicated to fair play. The long goodbye we are witnessing, in accordance with the American Constitution, is becoming even longer if we factor in its intensity. History can sometimes be a great show, but what we are now seeing represents more than that. What is happening in this transition will have important consequences for the next years — consequences that will affect America’s future and international relations, as well as the lives of the citizens of this planet.

In his difficult transition from president to common citizen, Barack Obama seems to be playing at least two roles before leaving the White House to Donald Trump. The first is the role of the powerful leader, not at all restricted or intimidated by the imminent arrival of his successor. The second role embodies the strict intellectual who may have been occasionally too cerebral in the past, but whose fundamental coldness now gives way to emotion. The intellectual trait he is now displaying consists in “the scandal of self-contradiction.” He indicates Bush senior and junior as “post-presidential models”* because of their discretion when speaking about public issues.

However, not even he seems to believe in the promise of taking after them. He talks about wanting to be “internally” quiet, but specifies that this does not entail “staying quiet about everything.”* He defends a legacy that is not only tied to his government, but also to a view of America, its rights and its freedoms. During an interview with David Axelrod, his claim that he would have won if he had been allowed to run a third time has come across as a criticism against Hillary Clinton. Everyone saw it that way, even though he has later explained that his goal was to “promote a reflection on the relationship between the Democratic Party and the white working class.”* No matter from which angle you view the matter, this is exactly the relationship that the Democratic candidate failed to defend.

Let us now move onto examining Obama’s actions, as well as his words. Before stepping down, the Democratic president has chosen to retaliate against Vladimir Putin for the interferences and the illegal activities carried out by the Kremlin’s hackers during November’s election. Yesterday’s steps, in particular the expulsion of 35 secret agents operating under diplomatic cover and the closure of two compounds in New York and Maryland, are proportional to an involvement in the “violation of established international norms of behavior.” Moscow’s harsh reaction was immediate, whereas it is not clear how Trump will proceed once he takes office. However, the consequences of the mark this political-diplomatic crisis will leave on the last days of the Democratic presidency will not vanish quickly, even if the new administration follows a completely different policy concerning Moscow. Trump or not, the relationships of mutual trust built by the U.S. and its European allies in the last decades are being put under strain by hard evidence. In some EU countries, flirting with the Kremlin’s leader may now become more difficult.

In any case, aside from this dispute with Russia that marks the end of an era, Obama has occupied with determination the stage he will have to step down from in three weeks. The approval of the U.N. resolution concerning Israeli settlements with U.S. abstention has started a new chapter in the history of Washington-Israel relations. There is now a rift with the Netanyahu government that the next administration will try to mend right away. According to Obama, the settlements are an obstacle to peace and stand in the way of the “two-state solution.” Trump instead wants to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and clearly sides with Israel. Regarding the protection of the environment, Obama has ordered a permanent ban on oil and gas drilling in large areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic, a choice that will not be easily undone in a short time, and has announced the designation of protected areas in Utah and Nevada that the energy industry will not be allowed to exploit.

The truth is that, in the struggle between his two roles, the intellectual is winning out. It is no coincidence that one of his projects for the future is to “build that next generation of leadership; organizers, journalists, politicians.” Today, passion conquers politics. There is no other explanation for his determination to accomplish now, when the countdown has already started, things that, for many reasons, were not done before. The bipartisan spirit and the complete observance of the rules, even unwritten ones, have been the great strengths of the American democracy. The same democracy that Trump must learn to fully respect (we must not forget his accusations of “rigged” elections, his exploitation of Hillary’s emails, or his ruthless employment of “post-truth”), even by observing the example set by his predecessor.

*Editor’s Note: These quotations, accurately translated, could not be verified.