In just
recent months, Obama has found himself in a self- manufactured diplomatic and
political crisis over the Syrian civil war.
In 2012 he demonstrated his lack of diplomatic acumen by making an
unscripted challenge to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad not to
“cross the red line” of use of chemical weapons in the conflict. This was essentially political grandstanding
on Obama’s part, as he never expected that Assad would actually use such
weapons, and was combined with naiveté with respect to the importance of every
public utterance of the President of the United States as well as the need to
consult/inform regional players prior to important initiatives, especially
military operations.
The crisis
occurred when the unimpressed Assad actually did use poison gas mounted
missiles against a civilian population not far from the Syrian capital of
Damascus. This action either “forced
Obama’s hand or “called his bluff” depending on how sympathetic one might be to
his ineptitude. Obama tried to build a
case for a cruise missile attack on Syria as punishment for his defiance and a
claim that the international community, not he, had created the “red line”. The
case quickly achieved diplomatic crisis magnitude when the President found
himself without supporters either abroad or in the Congress. Normally dovish Democrats awkwardly assumed sycophantic positions and tried to defend Obama’s threats
but NATO allies and the broader EU, joined by the UN Secretary General, the
Pope, and selected Middle Eastern governments usually in line with U.S.
policies in the region, all voiced opposition, undermining Obama’s claim that
the international community demanded accountability on the part of Assad.
Obama and
his supporters began a dance like response, claiming that the planned strike
would not endanger civilians; would not be an attempt to influence the outcome
of the Syrian civil war and would not target the chemical weapons themselves
out of fear that such an attack would spread the poison gas indiscriminately. Such
assertions naturally led to the questions; “What then is the purpose of the
strikes?” and “What U.S. national interests will be served?”
In an act of
special irony, Russian President Vladimir Putin, no friend of the U.S., came to Obama’s rescue and scored a
significant diplomatic coup by convincing his Syrian client to agree to release
his chemical weapons to UN inspectors.
Thus Putin looked like a peace maker and elevated his stature in the
region and Obama simply looked inept irrelevant and foolish.
On the home
front, the much heralded coming out party for the President’s single
legislative “achievement”, the Affordable Care Act i.e. Obamacare, was a flop
of huge proportions. The incredibly
expensive website created for “easy” application for health care insurance
through government exchanges simply doesn’t work. Since there is a deadline for the uninsured
to buy insurance and a penalty for failure to do so, a festering political
problem has been created. Democrats in
the Congress who just weeks ago opposed a proposed delay for the mandatory
enrollment provision by Republicans in the House, are now calling for exactly
such a delay. All of this is occurring in the context of nation -wide lack of
support for the health care act itself.
Obamacare has never achieved majority support in the country. Currently polls show only 41% approval and
health insurance premiums are going up as insurance companies take on the extra
burdens of the legislation. This is a domestic
political crisis for the Administration and for Democrats in moderate states
who are facing reelection in 2014.
Republicans and Democrats alike are expressing outrage at the
incompetence demonstrated by those in charge of program but so far no one in
the Administration has been held accountable.
Coming on
the heels of the Obamacare fiasco, which is still ongoing, are the revelations
that the National Security Agency (NSA) which is the Administrations electronic
intelligence agency, has been eavesdropping (the media calls it “spying”), on
America’s European allies. Particularly
outraged is Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who sources say has had her
personal cell phone conversations monitored.
The scale of the NSA’s monitoring has been vast, with the governments of
Mexico, and Brazil also being identified as the subjects of electronic surveillance.
All of these
revelations are made worse by the fact that they were made public by Edward
Snowden the young civilian employee of a private contractor and current
fugitive hiding out in Moscow, who inexplicably had access to an enormous
amount of classified data that he had no “need to know”. This security failure following a similar
breach of national security by then 23 year old, emotionally disturbed Army
Private Bradley Manning, makes the executive branch look to be out of control
of its own operations
Some European
leaders are so incensed that they are talking about lower levels of cooperation
in intelligence matters with the Obama Administration and others are
considering cancelling trade talks even though they are unrelated to the
eavesdropping allegations.
The
Administration had already created a chill in relations with Israel by not
including it in overtures to Iran regarding suspension of its nuclear weapons
development. Saudi Arabia is threatening
reduced levels of cooperation over its lack of inclusion in U.S. policies
toward Iran, Syria and the partial suspension of military aid to Egypt.
Essentially
the Obama Administration’s foreign policy is in multi-regional crisis. The political impact of these problems, both
foreign and domestic could be significant.
Obama is trying to change the subject away from them by demanding a push
to achieve immigration reform legislation but the crises diminish his political
clout and embolden immigration reform opponents in both houses.
Most of the
foreign policy issues occurred during former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
tenure. She of course is being widely
touted as the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee and “certain winner” in
2016. She is already carrying the burden
of the as yet unexplained Benghazi attack on the U.S. Consulate facilities that
resulted in the deaths of four U.S. citizens including the American
Ambassador. The outcomes of the current
diplomatic crises will surely come back to haunt her as well if she indeed chooses to try for the White
House again.
No comments:
Post a Comment