Everything We Could Do

Barack Obama has summed up the results of his time in office.

U.S. President Barack Obama presented the annual State of the Union address to Congress — his last address at Capitol Hill for the two terms of his presidency. The final speech from the current head of the White House, who came to the power under the slogan “Yes We Can!” was the most controversial. Barack Obama credited the success of the U.S. economy to his presidency, and repeated the thesis of the global leadership of the United States. He was forced to acknowledge that during his presidency, international terrorism became a much stronger global power, and the fight against it must now become the main priority of the U.S. over the next few decades. Experts interviewed by Kommersant believe Barack Obama was able to provide some indisputable examples of his successes, including the settlement of the Iran and Cuba problems; however, at the same time, he could not resist insulting Russia and China in his speech.

This was the last traditional State of the Union address by Barack Obama, a speech presented by the head of the White House to Congress at the beginning of each year. In this regard, President Obama’s eighth speech was very unusual. The American leader did not talk as much about current problems, such as relations with the Republican-controlled Congress or operational challenges in domestic politics, but instead about the results of his presidency.

The president of the United States did not appear in front of lawmakers and millions of Americans as a strict examiner, despite providing his own grade for his reign.

Barack Obama pointed out the U.S. recovery from the economic crisis in 2008 and 2009; breakthroughs in the development of national energy, education and health care; growth in the research and innovation sector; and achievements in the field of environmental protection as the most significant changes during his presidency. “The U.S. economy is in excellent condition, and this allowed the president to remind Americans that things are not as bad as many people think,” said Anton Fedyashin, a Washington-based professor of history at American University, commenting on the domestic part of the U.S. president’s speech.

The foreign policy section of the speech was permeated with the idea of U.S. global leadership, which, for the White House, remains an indisputable fact. “When it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead — they call us,” explained Barack Obama. According to Obama, when the U.S. “help[s] Ukraine defend its democracy, or Colombia resolve a decades-long war, that strengthens the international order we depend upon.” While providing a more detailed account of how he sees America’s global leadership, President Obama said, “The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth,” and it spends more on its military than the next eight nations combined. And in this regard, he noted, “No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that’s the path to ruin.”

Although, as it was clarified from Barack Obama’s speech, one and a half decades after America announced a global campaign against terrorism in response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, international terrorism was not only not defeated, but it has become an immeasurably more powerful force. Preferring not to focus on the Islamic State (banned in Russia), a terrorist group that eclipsed the Taliban and al-Qaida, and that appeared during his time in office, Obama said: “Our foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and al Qaeda, but it can’t stop there.” “For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world — in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia,” he continued.

At one moment, he pumped up the situation and at another tried to calm things down, requesting that Americans not compare the fight against the Islamic State group to World War III. But Obama did not explain how exactly the U.S. is going to fight the Islamic State group. On the one hand, he demanded that Congress authorizes the use of military force against “killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed.” On the other hand, he called on the U.S. to not “[spill] American blood and treasure” by “[trying] to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis.” Experts interviewed by Kommersant agree that the foreign affairs part of Barack Obama’s speech was the most declarative and least original.

“In the field of foreign policy and national security policy, to which President Obama paid so much attention for two terms, his achievements are very controversial. He was forced to admit that the turbulence in the Middle East, catalyzed by the participation of the United States, which Barack Obama called transformational, won’t be resolved in this generation’s lifetime. The problem of international terrorism has become truly multinational. And while the United States has provided for the relative safety of its territory and population from large-scale terrorist attacks, the global threat has multiplied,” stated Deputy Director of the IMEMO Fedor Voytolovsky.*

“In the traditional priority given to the U.S. Euro-Atlantic direction, which President Obama almost did not mention, the results are more than questionable. The president of the United States was able to ‘gain’ allies during the Ukrainian crisis, but did he win anything from this? Hardly one of the allies will agree that Europe has become safer after the deterioration of relations with Russia,” continued Fedor Voytolovsky.

Finally, the experts interviewed by Kommersant drew attention to the fact that in his speech, Barack Obama actually had to admit he was never able to help Americans regain their lost faith in the political process and politicians. “Judging by the stone face of the new leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, who according to tradition was sitting next to Vice President Biden and behind President Obama, we should not expect a thaw in relations between the two parties,” said Anton Fedyashin.

This conclusion was confirmed by the Republican response speech, delivered by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. “Barack Obama’s election as president seven years ago broke historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans. As he did when he first ran for office, tonight President Obama spoke eloquently about grand things. He is at his best when he does that. Unfortunately, the president’s record has often fallen far short of his soaring words,” said Nikki Haley.

*Translator’s note: The Institute of World Economy and International Relations, or IMEMO, is a leading independent research institute based in Moscow, Russia.