The US and Obama: Disillusionment

Richard Cohen, the prominent Washington Post columnist, wrote a piece on Barack Obama titled “A Question of Competence.” The judgment wasn’t very positive.

Other very prominent liberal columnists have been expressing their doubts about one-time superstar Obama: He’s a great speaker but not a very good leader; he loves great visions but is unable to turn them into reality because he doesn’t have the tools necessary to get the job done.

Der Spiegel magazine wrote of Chancellor Angela Merkel that she considers the U.S. president to be overestimated, a politician who talks a lot, does little and is undependable as well.

The expectation of many — including many Europeans — was that Obama would create a new and “better” America But he still hasn’t closed Guantanamo, continues to approve serial drone attacks that result in the death of many civilians and permits excessive eavesdropping on America’s friends and allies. These aren’t good role models for anyone — especially for young people. The fact that America liberated Europe from Nazi and later communist dictatorships has already half-disappeared into the fog of history. What’s left is the reality that Obama is not George W. Bush and he is the first African-American president, but he has done too little for far too many people.

The reality is that Guantanamo remains in operation and America’s gun control laws are as crazy as ever, financial speculation still runs amok and his health care reforms are only half-realized. Likewise, his foreign policy initiatives have withered on the vine: Netanyahu continues to build settlements in the occupied territories, Egypt is collapsing and China plays the role of Asiatic hegemon while Obama is forced to stay at home because of the shutdown.

Still, on the foreign policy front, his hesitation can be seen as prudent realization. In his rejection of the right wing’s “bomb Iran” mentality, he opened the possibility of a negotiated settlement with the Iranian leadership; in severing ties with old dictators like Hosni Mubarak — which angered the Saudis — he precipitated the dangerous but unavoidable Arab Spring. By joining in with Putin’s compromise in Syria, he avoided another hopeless war in another Muslim nation.

Nonetheless, the United States under Barack Obama is still a pretty ruthless, egotistical and paranoid superpower. That’s somewhat disappointing, but on the other hand, who would we prefer as our hegemonic partner, Putin? China? What would our world be like if fanatics were allowed to run amok unopposed?

The eavesdropping insanity is an overreaction to the shock of 9/11. The United States is still a democratic nation at its core, as well as in the context of human rights. Obama appears to understand the limits of America’s possibilities as well as his own; that will have to suffice. Disillusionment may be painful, but realism is necessary.