Obama’s Backseat Strategy

Boston University is one of the United States' most storied and selective education establishments. The university, which was founded in 1839 and is located in the historic city of Boston, has 31,000 students studying in 17 different disciplines and over 4,000 faculty members. This university has always been a focus of attention for foreign students. Currently there are 5,464 foreign students from 139 countries studying in Boston.

Boston University, which is admired by Turkish students, has had approximately 500 Turkish graduates. Amongst their ranks are the major names in many fields. One of these important names, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Akbank Suzan Sabancı-Dincer, hosted a conference organized by two of Boston University’s important faculty members. The conference, held last night in the Hilton Hotel, was entitled “The Impact of the 2012 American Presidential Election on Global Relations.”

In this meeting, which was also attended by old graduates, Dean of the Faculty of Literature Virginia Shapiro and Head of the Politics Department Graham Wilson analyzed the problems which America is still facing during the election season and shared their opinions on the candidates’ attitudes towards the issues.

Usually, the decisive factor in American elections is the economy. Following a severe financial crisis, the focus put on the economy and the ensuing debates about it in this year’s election is natural.

In Professor Shapiro's words, the current status of the American economy is “both good and bad” for Obama. The good news is that the economy has begun to recover in the past few months and the decreasing unemployment trend is especially encouraging. The bad news is that despite this trend, the unemployment rate is still high. In recent polls, the trend toward an improving economy is causing Obama's chances to increase. Obama's popularity is especially increasing amongst the middle class and women.

However, Prof. Shapiro said that experienced politician and candidate for the Republican Party Mitt Romney's chances should not be ignored. When asked her opinion about the fact that Obama's chances are being shown as quite high, the professor responded, “Despite everything, I won't bet on Obama.”

Professor Wilson, who focused more on foreign policy problems during the conference, said that this issue constitutes one of Obama's strong points. In the professor's words, Obama, in terms of foreign relations, followed a “measured, balanced, and rational” road. Unlike his predecessor, George Bush, Obama avoided unilateral interventions.

Obama is indeed keeping his promise from the last election campaign, having withdrawn U.S. forces from Iraq and revealed a timetable for the withdrawal plan of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Prof. Wilson said that despite the importance given by the American public to democracy, not a lot of excitement was felt toward the events in the Middle East during the “Arab Spring,” and due to its uncertain outcome they prefer that it does not spread.

In fact, Obama has the same attitude. This is especially shown in the prudent policies which he has followed on the topics of Iran and Syria. In regards to Iran, Obama favors a diplomatic option and is keeping pressure on Israel not to carry out military maneuvers. On the topic of Syria, the American president, while taking a firm stand against Bashar al-Assad, has supported international diplomatic initiatives and excluded military options. Obama's stance stems from both the aforementioned characteristics ascribed to him by Prof. Wilson and the president's concerns about the election.

It seems like unless a very compelling reason surfaces, American foreign policy will take a back seat and continue to be directed cautiously, until at least the election in November if Obama wins, or, if Romney wins, until he takes office in January of 2013.