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Americans feel impotent and frustrated, and it’s only naturally to blame whoever is in charge at the moment. Or, in the case of some, to blame the previous guy in charge. Neither of these impulses are entirely wrong. Nor are they fulfilling.
A decade ago, when things were going badly, we could at least take solace in the fact that we understood the problem: cowboy diplomacy simply didn’t work. George W. Bush had messed up everything. This was obvious. But at least there was hope – naive hope, but still hope – that someone like Barack Obama could fix all of this. All he had to do was show everyone around the world that we Americans really are nice people – to charm them with his cosmopolitan wiles, soaring rhetoric and Nobel Peace Prize and they would go about their business and leave us alone. But now we have given up on the notion that even Obama can change things. This loss of hope may be the most important and surprising legacy of the Obama years.
There is a growing sense of frustration that nothing works. In the foreign policy realm, this is especially true. Being strong didn’t work. Being nice didn’t work. Intervening … didn’t work. Turning inward … didn’t work. Both strategies – and everything in between – only seemed to invite provocation. We are damned if we do, damned if we don’t.
In a desperate move to keep hope alive, we rationalize, telling ourselves stories to help explain how the world works. Here are a few I’ve heard in the past decade, or so: “We must intervene. Otherwise, there’s a power vacuum” … “People everywhere just want to be free. If we just give them a nudge, we will have an Arab Spring” … “We’ll be greeted as liberators!” … “People hate us because we keep intervening, let’s just keep to ourselves” … “We can use drones and special forces, but for the love of God, no boots on the ground” … “Everyone knows you can’t do this with air power alone. WE NEED BOOTS ON THE GROUND!” Full story...
Related posts:
Americans feel impotent and frustrated, and it’s only naturally to blame whoever is in charge at the moment. Or, in the case of some, to blame the previous guy in charge. Neither of these impulses are entirely wrong. Nor are they fulfilling.
A decade ago, when things were going badly, we could at least take solace in the fact that we understood the problem: cowboy diplomacy simply didn’t work. George W. Bush had messed up everything. This was obvious. But at least there was hope – naive hope, but still hope – that someone like Barack Obama could fix all of this. All he had to do was show everyone around the world that we Americans really are nice people – to charm them with his cosmopolitan wiles, soaring rhetoric and Nobel Peace Prize and they would go about their business and leave us alone. But now we have given up on the notion that even Obama can change things. This loss of hope may be the most important and surprising legacy of the Obama years.
There is a growing sense of frustration that nothing works. In the foreign policy realm, this is especially true. Being strong didn’t work. Being nice didn’t work. Intervening … didn’t work. Turning inward … didn’t work. Both strategies – and everything in between – only seemed to invite provocation. We are damned if we do, damned if we don’t.
In a desperate move to keep hope alive, we rationalize, telling ourselves stories to help explain how the world works. Here are a few I’ve heard in the past decade, or so: “We must intervene. Otherwise, there’s a power vacuum” … “People everywhere just want to be free. If we just give them a nudge, we will have an Arab Spring” … “We’ll be greeted as liberators!” … “People hate us because we keep intervening, let’s just keep to ourselves” … “We can use drones and special forces, but for the love of God, no boots on the ground” … “Everyone knows you can’t do this with air power alone. WE NEED BOOTS ON THE GROUND!” Full story...
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