Despite the Obama team’s early promises to break with the policies of their predecessors, nearly every day brings a headline suggesting the reverse. Last year’s eagerness to engage with Iran has given way to a policy “tough enough to actually change behavior,” in the president’s words. Last year’s linguistic cleansing of the phrase “war on terror” has been supplanted by a national security team (including the previous administration’s defense secretary) that speaks routinely of a nation at war and which is “surging” more troops into Afghanistan than President Bush controversially surged into Iraq in 2007—even as it steps up aerial attacks in neighboring Pakistan. The Obama team’s timetable for withdrawing from Iraq all but mirrors President Bush’s. The administration’s defense budget is the highest ever. Russia, China, Taiwan, the Gulf States—the initial distancing from President Bush’s defense priorities in these places, where not closed entirely, have been reduced to a cosmetic gap.
Reacting to our enemies more realistically is only one part of repairing the damage that a flight from reality will cause. We also have to bolster our allies. Our allies don't do anything comparable to our enemies to compel a more realistic assessment of our relations. So our administration can continue to do things, like screwing the British, that alienate our friends and allies even as we adjust our policies toward enemies and foes to confront them.
On the bright side, a more realistic reaction to enemies does have one positive effect on allies even if we don't work to bolster the friendships. Where we have common enemies, even friends who we ignore a bit can have a little more confidence that we will jointly confront those enemies.
I've never doubted our president means well. But he has a lot to learn about his silly college student notions of America's place in the world. He at least seems capable of learning.
Hey! I finally get that whole "hope and change" thing!
