Former Obama advisor Vali Naser blasts the Obama doctrine (lack of ).........
America – dragged by Europeans into ending butchery in Libya, abandoning Afghanistan to an uncertain future, resisting a leadership role in ending the massacre of civilians in Syria, and then rolling back its commitments to the region to “pivot” to Asia – hardly looks indispensable.
In the cocoon of our public debate Obama gets high marks on foreign policy. That is because his policies’ principal aim is not to make strategic decisions but to satisfy public opinion – he has done more of the things that people want and fewer of the things we have to do that may be unpopular.
To our allies, however, our constant tactical maneuvers don’t add up to a coherent strategy or a vision of global leadership. Gone is the exuberant American desire to lead the world. In its place there is the image of a superpower tired of the world and in retreat, most visibly from the one area of the world where it has been most intensely engaged. That impression serves neither America’s long-run interest nor stability around the world.
Vali Nasr is dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a senior fellow in foreign policy at the (liberal) Brookings Institution. He served in the Obama administration from 2009-2011 as senior advisor to the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.