Bloodthirsty Liberal

He may bow, scrape, fist bump, and man-hug the leaders of the world, but President Obama isn’t leading them. Perhaps they’re over-awed by his magnificence.

In every case, Mr Obama seems to say, this administration starts afresh – and if it can break with the diplomatic and strategic failures of George W. Bush, remaking the world as well as the US economy is so much the better.

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Can one begin to talk of an “Obama doctrine”?

If style and temperament can constitute a doctrine, the answer is yes. The intellectual traits that Mr Obama says he most prizes in himself and those around him are pragmatism and perseverance. Many would say that Mr Bush also had perseverance, carried to the point of dull-witted obstinacy, but nobody ever accused him of pragmatism. Mr Obama’s willingness to start anew, ask what works, offer respect to governments that crave it (even if they may not deserve it) and patiently seek progress where he may is refreshing.

One aspect of this pragmatism is the president’s desire to build alliances and cool old enmities, and work towards US aims through co-operation rather than confrontation. The trouble is, most US presidents – including Mr Obama’s predecessor – felt the same way until the world beat it out of them. Foreign policy doctrine is put to the test only when co-operation in pursuit of mutual interests fails to achieve results, and the hard choices that Mr Obama insists he is willing to make actually present themselves.

Though it is much too soon to write off Mr Obama’s friendly overtures, you could hardly describe them so far as a notable success. He travelled to Europe this month and received ovations at every step; presidents and prime ministers jostled like giddy teenagers to be photographed with him. Yet he went away with nothing: no co-ordinated fiscal stimulus; no meaningful commitments of new military support in Afghanistan. Judged by the outcome, could his predecessor have done much worse?

The world agreed that North Korea’s missile test should be opposed; the US even hinted it might shoot the rocket down. The launch went ahead without repercussions. The US and its allies could not agree on a response.

The world believes that Iran should be stopped from developing nuclear weapons, but the allies drag their feet over sanctions. Privately, the US tells Russia it would not build missile defence sites in Poland or the Czech Republic if it received help on Iran in exchange; publicly, Russia says no. Next, the new administration tries outreach, signalling a willingness to talk to Iran without preconditions – and an American-Iranian journalist is sentenced to eight years in jail for spying. At this, Mr Obama and Hillary Clinton, his secretary of state, say they are “deeply disappointed”.

He concludes:

Soon, the leaders who say they so admire Mr Obama will have to return more than warm feelings. Europe should bear more of the burden in Afghanistan. Iran would be better induced to co-operate if US overtures were combined with solidarity among the allies should those overtures be rejected. If US allies keep demanding the benefits of co-operation without the costs, Mr Obama’s respect for them will evaporate and so will his country’s – and that will be that for the Obama doctrine on foreign policy.

Pardon me for asking, but hadn’t more than a few countries come around to our way of thinking? Didn’t France and Germany—the core of Old Europe—throw out their obstinate, calcified leadership in favor of heads of state whose thinking was more in line with President Bush’s?

Maybe, just maybe, these giddy presidents, prime ministers, and chancellors of Europe are keeping their distance from the Messiah because they know what eventually happens to all false messiahs. And they don’t want to be nailed up on the next cross to his.

When they turned their feeble little fifteen-watt bulb lights off at night and huddled under their threadbare woolen blankets, they must have felt safe knowing that Dick Cheney was awake 3,000 miles away and five hours earlier, lights blaring, Kenny Chesney blasting, a bottomless tumbler of Jack Daniels by his side, poring over maps, charts, and threat assessments. Now, Joe Biden (searching for his misplaced left slipper) is the foreign policy czar, and they’re not sleeping so well anymore. No wonder they’re cranky.