Late to the Party
Foreign policy is instrumental to a President’s agenda. Our allies depend on us and our adversaries must fear us. America’s place in the world is unquestionable, but when weak leaders are elected and bad policies are implemented our role becomes diminished, our adversaries are emboldened and our allies are left unnerved. Never before has this been more evident than the last eight years. President Obama’s entire foreign policy has been a reaction to the growing threat of Russia. Never being proactive in his pursuit for a safer and more prosperous America, but always late, leaving America and her allies with a more dangerous world.
The most evident and recent example is his handling of the Russian meddling in our electoral system, trying to undermine our faith in democracy. A few weeks ago President Obama said to Republicans, namely the President-Elect, “Putin is not our friend.” I agree with him. If only he had understood that four years ago when he was making jokes and antagonizing then 2012 Republican Presidential Nominee, Mitt Romney, for understanding the threat Russia posed to our interests and that they were America’s number one geopolitical threat. If only he understood that when he famously declared,
“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because…the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”
What is astonishing is President Obama and Democrats sudden backbone. They issue warnings to President-Elect Trump about Putin and tell him Russia is not and never will be our ally. The problem is that President Obama only realized that Putin is not our friend because he was on the losing end of the Kremlins aggressive action. He didn't realize this while Putin was destroying Aleppo or their intervention in Ukraine. He didn’t realize this in 2012 when he was caught on mic telling then Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, that he would have flexibility after his election to negotiate. All those times others took the force of Putins blow. Women and Children in Syria, the people in the Ukraine and the Crimea. The people on Malaysian Airlines flight 17. The families of the people killed on that airliner, they felt Putins force and President Obama did nothing.
No wonder Putin felt he could get away with meddling in our election. Its clear that President Obama has no foresight. When it comes to Russia he clearly never saw the threat they posed and continue to pose to our interests in the world. Now that his legacy is in shambles and his domestic agenda will be destroyed in a matter of weeks by a President Trump and Republican congress he once again plays catch up, expelling Russian diplomats and instituting sanctions. We should be gleeful he has awoken from his slumber and understands that Putin is not our friend, but we should understand this is simply a fourth quarter hail-mary. President Obama is playing catch up while Putin has already run the score board.
Putin has all but assured Assad will stay in power after destroying any moderate rebels in Syria who could have taken Assad’s place. The sanctions President Obama imposed will likely be drawn back a Trump administration, a move I disagree with. Putin has annexed the Crimea with no repercussions, shot down an airliner with American passengers on board and President Obama’s response was once again timid and reactionary. Putin’s ambition to restore the former Soviet empire is clear, no one should be mistaken. I only wish we could have had a President these last 8 years who understood that before the last month he was in office.
