This is only making news on liberal blogs, Twitchy and Breitbart and a few other places for some reason, but the Prez really bristled over a question asked by Ed Henry of Fox during his final presser in the Philippines yesterday. The question? Simple, describe the Obama Doctrine (on foreign policy). Who could forget the last person criticized for not being able to describe a presidential foreign policy doctrine.
Of course the lefties are crowing that he chewed Henry up for breakfast, or made tofu out of him, or turned him into a rice cake--however the analogies go on the port side. You be the judge...
That clip did not include Henry's question to the Filipino president, which was actually tougher. You can see it here by forwarding to 40:50. It was about the killing of journalists in his country, which he answered rather calmly.
On the contrary Obama was, as Twitchy put it, rhetorically 'stomping his foot', bashing Fox, Bush and anyone not in agreement with his doctrine (on the right, because the left agrees with it), whatever that might be. As is usual with Obama replies, there was an answer in there somewhere, it was just hard to pin down aside from the jab at Henry for daring ask the question, which was clear.
The biggest strawman was the notion that those opposed to to his rather timid foreign policy want war. Hmm, at last check nobody forced him to draw a red line in Syria or threaten the various consequences over Ukraine; not John McCain, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh or Tweedle Dum. It was he, trying to act tough while telegraphing a reluctance to back it up. This is called smart 21st Century power.
At one point he stated that some of his critics haven't 'learned the lesson of the last decade', which seems odd. What exactly is the lesson? Is he saying Iraq would now be thriving now under Saddam, with Israel far better off still having him tied with Arafat/Fatah at the hip? Surely he doesn't think Bush should have invaded Pakistan, since it's obvious his Afghanistan surge will not defeat the Taliban, while our leaving threatens to return the region back to 2001.
Was bombing Libya after Daffy gave up his nuke program (thanks to seeing Saddam crawling out of a spider hole) an example of smart power? What would Ben Rhodes say? Was the reset button with Russia a smart move, all things considered? Ed Snowden? Trusting the Russians to get our astronauts to the ISS? How about trusting the Iranians? Abbas? Was it Bush's blunder that the Indians are ticked off at America moreso than during the Bush years? Do tell, Mr. President.
In a way his long wandering snippy answer to a pretty basic question IS the answer. The doctrine appears to be confusion, ambiguity, and mish-mosh, with rear view mirror thinking while leading from behind, all while criticizing anyone not smart enough to see the genius. He's not going to be dumb and start a war, unless his bombing likely won't start a war. It's not hard to see how this might confuse certain foreigners, wondering what has happened to the most powerful nation on Earth and the biggest force for good the world has ever known.
C
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