Death of a Doctrine - Obama Discovers Engagement's Limits

Washington Post ^ | July 29, 2009 | Michael Gerson

[La Lydia]

The Obama administration lacks a foreign policy ideology as a matter of ideology. Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Secretary of State Clinton asserted, "Rigid ideologies and old formulas don't apply."...But even lacking an ideology, the administration does have a doctrine. The defining principle of President Obama's foreign policy is engagement with America's adversaries...expressing respect for legitimate grievances, apologizing for past wrongs and offering dialogue without preconditions. Six months on, how fares the Obama doctrine? Concerning North Korea and Iran, the doctrine is on its deathbed. North Korea responded to administration outreach by testing a nuclear weapon, firing missiles toward U.S. allies, resuming plutonium reprocessing and threatening the United States with a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation."...

The Iranian regime's reaction to engagement was to cut the ribbon on a nuclear enrichment facility, add centrifuges, conduct a fraudulent election, and kill and imprison political opponents. Regarding administration overtures, Clinton recently told the BBC, "We haven't had any response...The problem is not engagement itself -- which was, after all, attempted in various forms by the previous administration. The difficulty is that the Obama foreign policy team has argued that the reason for tension and conflict with nations such as North Korea and Iran is a lack of adequate American engagement -- which is absurd, and which has raised absurdly high expectations...

...Obama's diplomatic hand has been extended for a while now. Fists remain clenched. This is not because some magical diplomatic words remain unspoken. It is because of the nature of oppressive regimes themselves...

The administration's public campaign of engaging enemies is headed toward an entirely unintended consequence...it will raise expectations for action...By attempting to engage North Korea and Iran so visibly, Obama is dramatically exposing the limits of engagement -- and building the case for confrontation.

[La Lydia]

Not working out the way they were so sure it would, is it? They thought they were so superior, so sophisticated, so much smarter than the Bushies, and look what they've accomplished. Worse behavior on the part of states such as North Korea and Iran; we look ridiculous, weak and naive. Unclenched fist indeed.

[allmost]

Engagement has been tried, and it failed. What could any rational person expect to happen? He wants to say ‘Lets do what failed previously while simultaneously weakening our position’. How is that supposed to work.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Man the phones! We ain’t won yet.

[avacado]

"we look ridiculous, weak and naive..."

And that is the only way to get Western Europe and the world to "like" us. Libs with their self-esteem issues tick me off!

[avacado]

"Engagement has been tried, and it failed. What could any rational person expect to happen? He wants to say ‘Lets do what failed previously while simultaneously weakening our position’. How is that supposed to work."

So too has failed Communism, Marxism and Socialism but that isn't stopping the drug addled community organizer from moving full steam ahead.

[rbg81]

we look ridiculous, weak and naive....

---

Uh, that is what Obama and most of the Left want.

[RexBeach]

Weakness = Bad Strength = Good

What’s so difficult to understand about this notion?

All one has to do to discover it is read history.

Putzes.

[greyfoxx39]

ping

[allmost]

You could add socialized medicine. Our current economic policy is closely modeled on the Japanese failure. Everything this man wants to do has been proven a failure. He's either stupid/naive or malicious, maybe a combination. Don't know.

[50sDad]

But they’ve brought us “peace in our time!”?

[milwguy]

the inherent instability of oppressive regimes also leads them to tighten control by invoking threats from abroad — particularly from the United States. Because anti-Americanism is a central commitment of North Korean and Iranian ideologies, any softening of this resentment requires a kind of voluntary regime change. Pyongyang and Tehran would need to find a new source of legitimacy — a new prop for their power — other than hatred for America. Not easy or likely.

That quote sums up exactly why Obama’s outreach will fail and make us look weak in the process. It was not Bush the despots hate, it is America and all we have and stand for. Naive Obama will never figure that out.

[freethinker_for_freedom]

I think what is becoming clear is that when you are dealing with crazies, nothing works. North Korea, Iran, Cuba, ...their crazed leaders have mystified us for several presidential terms. They’re not rational, and their responses to our varying terms of engagement have been eccentric and unpredictable.

Even worse, the crazier they are, the longer they seem to cling to power.