Thread: Obama’s Doctrine of Restraint

elect clinton and we are likely to get the exact same thing.

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One way to define Barack Obama’s foreign policy is as a Doctrine of Restraint. It is clear, not least to the Kremlin, that this president is skeptical of the efficacy of military force, wary of foreign interventions that may become long-term commitments, convinced the era of American-imposed solutions is over, and inclined to see the United States as less an indispensable power than an indispensable partner. He has, in effect, been talking down American power.

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Yet the cost of the Doctrine of Restraint has been very high. How high we do not yet know, but the world is more dangerous than in recent memory. Obama’s skepticism about American power, his readiness to disengage from Europe and his catastrophic tiptoeing on Syria have left the Middle East in generational conflict and fracture, Europe unstable and Putin strutting the stage. Where this rudderless reality is likely to lead I will examine in my next column.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/op...f=opinion&_r=0

Babysitting the world is not the US armed forces' job.


All those places mentioned in the OP need to learn to take care of their own neighborhoods.. and they will never learn to take care of themselves if the US federal gubment keeps doing it for them.

The fact that this President is doing all this makes me think we can get our country out of the war business and concentrate on repairing our own Country once again.

The Middle Eaat is a quagmire we should never have entered. Will be a quagmire long after we are out. GW's father warned him. We are now seeing the results.

The Father was a smart man. Knew what he was doing. GW did not.

Sorry, what IS the Republican alternative?

I mean besides saying "We need to git tuff" over and over and over?

Originally Posted by mtm1963

elect clinton and we are likely to get the exact same thing.

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One way to define Barack Obama’s foreign policy is as a Doctrine of Restraint. It is clear, not least to the Kremlin, that this president is skeptical of the efficacy of military force, wary of foreign interventions that may become long-term commitments, convinced the era of American-imposed solutions is over, and inclined to see the United States as less an indispensable power than an indispensable partner. He has, in effect, been talking down American power.

--

Yet the cost of the Doctrine of Restraint has been very high. How high we do not yet know, but the world is more dangerous than in recent memory. Obama’s skepticism about American power, his readiness to disengage from Europe and his catastrophic tiptoeing on Syria have left the Middle East in generational conflict and fracture, Europe unstable and Putin strutting the stage. Where this rudderless reality is likely to lead I will examine in my next column.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/op...f=opinion&_r=0

It's also clear that since Republicans have been calling the president "weak" non-stop since inauguration day, that half the country doesn't have his back.

If Obama's own people don't have any respect for him, why should anyone else?

Thanks for your patriotism.

So if we elect Clinton we get restraint. If we elect Trump or Carson we get what?

Yeah restraint is a bad thing.

when the administration supported the arab spring it had no follow up policy to fill the obvious political vacuum that was going to occur.

the administration talks/talked about not repeating bad foreign policy decisions of the past, well guess it what, it did and on a much larger scale.

Originally Posted by DebateDrone

So if we elect Clinton we get restraint. If we elect Trump or Carson we get what?

Yeah restraint is a bad thing.

Trump's a neo-isolationist...or atleast pretends to be....because he wants to win war-weary Independents later (thinking he'll actually win the Nomination...which he won't. Partly due to rejection by Neo-cons).

Carson will never be the GOP Nominee....ever.


But Rubio or Jeb are full-out Neo-cons....who'd have us in Yet Another Disasterous Middle Eastern War within months of being inaugurated.....


so naturally, while the Republican partisans like mtm will COMPLAIN about Obama or Hillary?....they won't offer up any specifics on what HIS guy would do differently.

Because he knows it'd be electoral disaster for the GOP.

I say we go with the McCain Doctrine and go to war everywhere.

The more accurate term would be: Cowardice.......