Barack Obama’s Shrewd Procrastination

The Republicans are urging Obama to immediately begin sending arms to Ukraine. Fortunately, Obama is stubborn enough to resist the provocation.

Twelve years ago during the Iraq War, a comparison was drawn that Europe was like Venus, the goddess of peace, and America was like Mars, the unyielding god of war. The same simile applies today, but in a more limited sense and primarily within the United States itself. Against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine, Republicans (Mars) are trying to convince the president (Venus) to start arming Kiev.

Putting aside the coming election – hard to do in the United States because the campaign is virtually a permanent fixture that ensures eternal strife between the president and the party opposing him – two versions of foreign policy are fighting for preeminence in the U.S. There are the Republicans surrounding John McCain and Lindsey Graham who, with the same verve as George Bush’s neoconservative advisers, hold the mistaken belief that Vladimir Putin will abandon his support for the Ukrainian pro-Russian separatists as soon as Ukraine gets a couple of anti-tank missiles and some surveillance drones from the U.S. That’s not only a dangerous idea, it’s also a stupid one because it highlights the division between the United States and Europe and gives Putin a reason to dig in further. Putin can sit back and watch as the U.S. and Europe squabble among themselves.

Luckily, Obama is stubborn enough and bright enough to avoid that trap. Domestically, he has nothing to lose because his administration ends in less than two years and his skepticism regarding U.S. involvement in Ukraine dovetails nicely with his basic foreign policy philosophy: There are stupid wars like his predecessor George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, and there are necessary wars like the war against the terrorist forces of the Islamic State. Which category Obama thinks is most suitable for the Ukraine conflict is as yet undecided. That’s why Obama is right in giving diplomacy a chance in Ukraine. And maybe a chance after that as well if the Ukraine summit talks don’t immediately bear fruit.

The U.S. President Has Considerable Discretionary Freedom

No one can say for certain today what affects U.S. supplied armaments would have on the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Neither the Republicans nor Obama know that. Accusing him of dragging his feet is nonsense and reveals nothing more than an intention to damage him politically at home. Whenever the situation is unclear, thoughtful action is never in error; on the contrary, it is demanded.

In hindsight, we should be thankful that the authors of the U.S. Constitution granted the president so much discretionary freedom in foreign policy. That can have a downside as evidenced by the George W. Bush years, but it can also have a calming effect as shown in Ukraine. If the United States were a parliamentary democracy as is common throughout Europe, Congress would most likely have already flooded Ukraine with all manner of weapons.

But Venus still has more to say in Washington than Mars does.