Edited by Laura Berlinsky-Schine
In contemplating what happened after one year of Obama’s reign, one wonders how the president of the United States lost the confidence of most, if not all, political observers inside and outside the country.
When the Americans chose Barack Obama as their president, the world was optimistic. The former U.S. administration, which sought to spread terror in the hearts of its citizens and plunged the world into a spiral of unsuccessful war in Afghanistan and Iraq during eight hard years, is now gone. The puritans left the White House, along with the heavy burden they imposed on the whole world, and in came the liberal Democrats, replacing them with new ideas and a new spirit.
Yes, we were all optimistic. In an interview I had with one of the channels during the first few days of Obama’s reign, the anchor asked me if we should really be optimistic about the new administration being at the head of U.S. foreign policy, and I told him yes, we must be optimistic, because it is expected that the new administration will push Obama to achievements in other parts of the world. Now I wish I hadn’t been so quick to say so.
The observer of what happened after one year of Obama’s reign wonders how the president of the United States lost the confidence of most, if not all, political observers inside and outside the country, except those who dream of establishing not just the utopian state, but the utopian world, of which the ancient Greeks dreamed. Obama and his team seek to manage their foreign policy of love, soft words and ongoing dialogue through exposing themselves, the real and the facade.
Like interactions between individuals, interaction between states is based on trust and mutual respect, and you cannot rely on the friendship of another party if you feel they are not qualified for such trust, whether due to weakness or lack of required understanding of its role as a friend and ally. Barack Obama and his administration are unable to gain anyone’s confidence, not even the prime minister of a small country like Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew strongly and violently criticized current U.S. policy in Asia, during his recent visit to Washington, and asked whether or not the U.S. would like to remain a powerful force. Additionally, when Obama went to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded during the first days of his presidency and was based on his speeches, not his actions, he focused in his speech on defending his foreign policy and read parts of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s speech, saying, “Let us focus on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature, but on a gradual evolution in human institutions.” Obama also noted that he owed his policy to Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent leader of the black liberation movement, which is based on non-violence, as laid out by famous Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi.
When Obama came to visit the Middle East, he ascended the pulpit in Cairo University, promising us a new policy regarding the Palestinian situation. He even demanded a complete halt to Israeli settlement in the occupied territories and hurried to select a special representative to deal with this issue with the Israelis and the Palestinians. Netanyahu not only refused to commit to halting settlement, but went too far in the construction and financing of Israeli settlers, particularly in Jerusalem, and the representative of the U.S. president quickly returned to Washington and disappeared. Obama’s administration did not lift a finger. Even more painful was the secretary of state, for praising Netanyahu’s distorted decision to partially stop some of the settlement, ignoring everything that the president had said.
Is Obama’s administration unable to do anything successfully? It took this administration about three months to decide to send additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan, where Obama was conflicted among his advisers’ contradicting opinions, incapable of making the right decision, from his point of view at least, for 90 days. None of the programs he promised, locally and abroad, have been realized. These days, he is caught up in a situation with Iranian puritans, who are not only refusing to come to an understanding regarding their nuclear program, but even grabbing the hand he publicly extended to them several months ago. In addition, Obama’s administration stressed, on more than one occasion, that it considers China a “strategic partner” in various economic and military matters on a global level. It is clear now that the Chinese are not interested in being partners with the U.S.; instead, they are seeking to inherit the leadership of the world in stages, starting in Africa and Asia, and then journeying to the rest of the world.
In terms of the issue with Palestine, unless Obama overcomes the apparent weakness in his character and submits, as soon as possible, a detailed proposal for the Palestinian and Israeli states, the region will remain steeped in trouble and chaos. Additionally, the U.S. president needs to explain to his friends, in Asia and the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere, that he can pursue a balanced policy that does not offer more to his enemies than it does his friends. This is what Japan, South Korea, and others fear today at the end of Obama’s first year of reign.
According to a Pentagon report, during the eight years of war, the Americans lost fewer than 900 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Yet it took Obama nearly three months of internal meetings and debates to decide to send 30,000 additional troops to the battlefield. How long will it take for him to make a decision regarding Palestine, among other issues? We hope it won’t take another three years of debate among members of his staff in the White House.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.