Obama: Pretty Words and Not Enough Action

The exercise is certainly an unoriginal one, but during his final State of the Union address on Tuesday, Barack Obama found the words to make his country dream one more time, defending an optimistic and ambitious vision of America. “The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth — period,” the president declared, notably appealing to his citizens not to give in to fear, whether about the economy, “the strongest, most durable economy in the world” or the Islamic State group, “killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed,” but who “do not threaten our national existence.” Obama’s charisma is the operative word first and foremost. It is the very same charisma that allowed him, against all odds, to assert himself during the primaries when up against Hillary Clinton, and then to win the election in November 2008 in an America weary of Bushisms and his military misadventures. This is the very same charisma that also won him the Nobel Peace Prize less than a year after his arrival to the White House on the basis of his good intentions alone. But too often, his words have remained just words, starting with his promise to close the Guantánamo Bay prison, an intention that he re-iterated on Tuesday, affirming that he would continue his “efforts.”

However, his track record on the domestic front is certainly more than respectable. The American economy is picking up, unemployment has been halved, and he has succeeded in imposing ambitious health reforms. Faced with a Republican camp that is always inclined to the right, the 44th president of the United States has succeeded in embodying a pragmatic and enlightened leadership, showing what intelligent reformism could be, even to the Europeans. But in the international arena, his results are considerably less glorious. Despite several incontestable successes, notably the rapprochement with Cuba, an ambiguous agreement on Iranian nuclear power, or his strong determination in the fight against terrorism symbolized by the disposal of Osama bin Laden, Obama remains a man of evasions. This is particularly evident in the case of Syria, like in the summer of 2013, when despite his commitments, he declined to lead military strikes against Bashar Assad’s regime, in spite of the leader being guilty of using chemical weapons against his own people. It [Obama’s involvement] was nonexistent in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including during his second term, when in theory, a president has more freedom to act as he is not dependent on ensuring re-election.

“When it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead — they call us,” Obama reminded his audience on Tuesday. This is still true, but the reminder puts him at risk of being remembered in history as the president of the American retreat, especially in the Middle East and Europe, without the United States’ “pivot” toward the Pacific — which he stated as one of his wishes — becoming a reality.