An Obama Foreign Policy Doctrine..?

From my previous blog posting: "Obama, a practical-minded politician? I believe so..!!" President Obama is living up to my perception of him as a practical minded person and definitely as a thoughtful Chief Executive of the USA. The US electorate should be rest assured that finally we have a real leader in the White House, a leader the world respects and nations states are willing to follow, which should make us all proud that the USA has finally taken its rightful leadership place on the global stage, and Mr. Obama deserves all the praise and credit for his leadership. It is ironic that critics of Mr. Obama are in complete disarray in their thoughts, proclamations and understanding of the intricacies and of the complex nature of foreign policy formulations and implementations, and the evolution of foreign conflicts and our ultimate involvement on any scale appropriate to serve our national security interests.

We have all heard from prominent critics like Mr. Newton Gingrich and the loose-mouthed right wing media pundits, and I am not surprised that they offer the confused and incoherent proposals for situations they have no understanding of, and are not prepared to spend the time and effort to do some research and educate themselves on the issues before offering un-workable and sometimes inept solution mantras that border on political lunacy. Most right wing pundits and some of their liberal counterparts seem to profess how smart Mr. Gingrich is, but he has been so thoughtless lately, I think his psyche and probably his fantasies, must be evaluated. It seems the media tries to equate loose tough political talk with being smart and having strong conviction, and denote thoughtful, cautious conviction and quiet but firm resolve as being weak and indecisive, a pattern that has historical not resulted in good outcomes when it comes to foreign policy and USA's involvement in foreign conflicts.

Mr. Obama is a highly educated individual who actually took his Ivy education in subjects like world history, social change, US and international politics, US and international law, specializing in US Constitutional Law, very seriously, unlike some of the privileged few who attended schools of higher learning just for social branding but paid no attention to the content and value of what they were taught. It is well known that our President is a great student of history, and judiciously considers the lessons of history in his decision making, especially when it comes to our military involvement in the Middle East. I was therefore not surprised that after days of criticism from apparently uninformed but loud-mouthed republicans and their mindless pundits, we all learned that Mr. Obama [The President] had already engaged the CIA into their rightful role in the Libyan crisis, weeks before any military action was ever taken, underscoring the thoughtfulness of our President and his fact based decision making approach to leadership, which is expected from a practical minded leader! We should all be thankful that, finally we have someone in the white house who thinks through unfolding events in relation to our historical involvement in foreign conflicts, before plunging our beloved military into unnecessary and evolving conflicts especially in the Middle East [Iraq rings the bell].

Most political analysts in the media are accustomed to pigeonholing US Presidents into simplistic and uncomplicated foreign policy positions and pronouncements they call 'policy doctrines' and sometimes succeed in coaxing some Presidents into untenable policy positions when complex foreign conflicts erupt and thereby limit themselves into impractical but seemingly decisive military commitments, which have historically been detrimental to this nation. The military invasion and further occupation of Iraq by President G. W. Bush, is the classic example where the neo-conservatives of the republican party and the unabashed war mongers, if I may be permitted to be blunt, were able to steer Mr. Bush, remember the self proclaimed compassionate conservative and the evangelist of freedom and liberty, into pursuing one of the worst foreign policy blunders in US history, costing us the lives and serious permanent injuries to thousands of US soldiers and their support diplomats, and many more thousands of Iraqi civilians, in addition to the trillions of dollars in war spending and associated expenditures, which is directly responsible for a large portion of the exploding US debt and deficits, that helped to plunge the US economy into the deepest recession [almost depression] ever! I hereby offer a facetious gratitude and a thank you to the thoughtless and non-deliberative neo-conservative foreign policy doctrine [unilateralism] that was whole-heartedly embraced by President G.W. Bush!!

I would love the opportunity to describe my perception of an 'Obama foreign policy doctrine', which I intend to attempt. My suggested rendition of 'Obama Foreign Policy Doctrine' would simply go something like this:

• "My fellow Americans, I believe my beloved USA, under my watch and leadership, will continue to be the beacon for unrivaled hope and the ultimate fulfiller of human aspirations. We the USA will be the leader of the world but will also consider ourselves as part of a world that strives towards the ideals and values consistent with those we cherish, thus looking for cooperation as our first instinct, but utilizing all means necessary to achieve the desired end result. Potential foreign conflicts and primary encroachments on our national security will be dealt with swiftly, effectively and decisively as humanly possible, with no ambiguity and/or second guessing. The rest of the world will be vigorously courted to adopt our noble ideals, ideas and approaches, and where deemed appropriate, a well thought out and forceful coercion will be applied, wherever the USA's interest can be shown to be affected. Unilateralism, as a sanctioned policy of the USA, will not be our first instinct when our national security is NOT directly affected by prevailing conditions of foreign conflicts. If a foreign conflict shows the potential for immense humanitarian disaster, a concerted effort of coalition building among all civilized nation states of the world will be engaged in, embarked upon and seriously pursued as the preferred cause of action, and a consensus remedy will be formulated and promulgated, respecting the required contributions from all nations involved in order to minimize the overall comprehensive cost to the USA. In short, my foreign policy doctrine will be deliberative and well thought out; it will be rational and measured in its application; consensus and coalition building with our allies will be a major component in its formulation and promulgation, and very strong and decisive in its implementation, to completely ascertain to ourselves and the rest of the world that, USA is and will remain the most powerful nation on this planet, and will forever be enduring and strong."

This preceding paragraph will be a relatively effective but modest description of what I believe could be the Obama foreign policy doctrine. The cerebral and deliberative nature of President Obama should come as no surprise to the American people, and his calm demeanor coupled with his thoughtful approach to leading the US in times of foreign conflicts should be greatly admired, because the most powerful nation on this planet deserves such leadership. I am reminded of the helplessness the American people have felt since the invasion of Iraq, which most believe is the root cause of why the murderer Osama Bin Ladin and his fellow criminals, who were responsible for 9/11 have not been captured to date, and another 'brain-dead' and thoughtless foreign military escapade on our part, will not be welcome!  Let me hear what you think of this thesis....