The Obama Doctrine?

On December 14th, New America Foundation’s Bernard L. Swartz Fellows Program hosted a panel with policy experts Peter Beinart, David E. Sanger, and Glenn Kessler on to what degree—one year into Obama’s Presidency—an “Obama Doctrine” or a distinctive vision that animates his administration's policies can be distilled. The event was moderated by Andrés Martinez, Director of Fellows Program.

Peter Beinart, Swartz Senior Fellow and author of The Icarus Syndrome: How American Triumph Produces American Tragedy (June 2010) argued that while many commentators tend to emphasize characterological factors, inherited circumstances are much more important in understanding U.S. policy. Due to an overcommitted military and a poor domestic economy, the Obama administration has been forced to reassess America's power and its role in the world. American foreign policy, Beinart said, is now in a place where it has more commitments than power, and Obama is in the unenviable position of having to explain to the American people the limits of American power and downsizing America’s set of commitments, including lowering troop levels in Iraq and redefining our goals in Afghanistan.

David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times and author of The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, argued we have not yet seen an “Obama doctrine.” Obama has said explicitly, Sanger noted, that America must measure its commitments based on its economic solvency. At the end of the Afghanistan review, for instance, Obama brought in Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to emphasize the real costs of war. Sanger also broke down Obama’s Oslo speech: The speech contained space for a continuation of Bush era unilateralism, he said, but it also contained a vision of multilateralism in global warming and containing nuclear threats, and for empowering international institutions and limiting the American commitment to nation building.

Glenn Kessler, Diplomatic Correspondent for the Washington Post and author of The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy, emphasized the Obama administration’s pragmatism. The administration, he said, tends to look at each problem somewhat in isolation, although at the beginning there was an “anything but Bush” approach to foreign policy which got them into some trouble. This included announcing the shuttering of Guantanamo Bay despite uncertainty over to accomplish it, symbolic gestures on torture, and the appointment of a Middle East envoy. To their credit, Kessler said, the administration has now recalibrated their approach. Kessler also noted the number of longer-term “investments” that Obama has made, including reaching out to Iran and paying America’s dues to the United Nations.

Participants

Featured Speakers
Peter Beinart
Schwartz Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
Author, The Icarus Syndrome: How American Triumph Produces American Tragedy (June 2010)

Glenn Kessler
Diplomatic Correspondent, The Washington Post
Author, The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy

David E. Sanger
Chief Washington Correspondent, The New York Times
Author, The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power

Moderator
Andrés Martinez
Director, Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program
New America Foundation