Obama's West Point Speech Shows Signs of Smart "National Security Strategy"
President Barack Obama's speech at West Point on Saturday may be among the most important he has yet made during his sixteen month old presidency. The speech intimates a number of the key themes likely to appear in the National Security Strategy report to be issued this next week.
As one senior official on his national security team recently said to me, "we are moving past a time when the foreign policy agenda was set by a previous President and into a time when the roster of things to do are chosen and prioritized by this President."
In his speech, President Obama said that this is a time for "national renewal" and "global leadership". The entire tone of his speech was confident but humble - seemingly recognizing the vital need for the US to return to its role as a benign, constructive force in global affairs. He seemed to confess that for America to return to a position of global credibility that it needed to work constructively with other powers, not think that power or significant accomplishments can be made independent of other of the world's key stakeholders.
Obama said that this time in history was on of those "moments of change", a time of discontinuity in global affairs when America's global social contract needed to be re-forged. He said that while this time of globalization and individual empowerment created opportunities, we also were seeing the emergence of new powers and the rise of "ancient hatreds and new dangers".
In other words, the United States no longer has the comfort of a predictable global equilibrium in which what the nation says and does automatically produces the results America wants. America's place in the world - and its power - need to be re-earned, its mystique as a country with dynamic military, economic, moral and institutional characteristics less constrained than other nations recaptured.
The President made a compelling call for significant reinvestment in the core strengths of the country - in the sources of American innovation, in education, R&D, next generation energy projects, and the like. He said that there is no way that the US can presume global leadership when its home front is deteriorating and in poor shape.
While he did not say so bluntly, Obama is finally leveling with the American public that he inherited national security and domestic portfolios from the G.W. Bush administration that were manifestations of a precipitous collapse in American power.
Obama is declaring his intention to turn these negative trends around - and without simply, vapidly asserting that America is powerful and capable of great feats, he is admitting that it will take tough work, prioritization, and creativity.
I was very impressed with this speech, though there were key elements of it that I think were wrong-headed though certainly not fatal.
On the downside, this is the second major national security address that the President has given at West Point, the first being his articulation of a revised strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan in September 2009.
President Obama shoulders the burden of being a war-time President from the Democratic Party. Americans traditionally doubt Democrats to deploy power and to make the hard decisions on military deployments - and thus to compensate, I feel that the President and the entire contemporary Democratic Party leadership tend to over compensate on this issue. They want to speak before soldiers, show they are supportive of the troops, and unveil their national security plans with the military as a backdrop to show that they are tough.
But the time has come for the President to give the kind of speech he gave this weekend at the Oval office, or at a high school, or at a steel plant, or an innovative renewable energy firm because it is not just "hard power" that is in play. If the US is making commitments to fight in other nations at a cost of more than $160 billion a year and the President is saying that the nation needs more competitive schools and technology and workforce, then all of the country - not just those in the military - should feel the responsibility, debate the costs, and be part of the equation.
My second critique is that as the President recognized the wide diversity of talent in the student soldiers sitting before him at their commencement, noting in particular that the two top cadets were women, he should have used this speech - even with a minor nod - to recognize the sacrifice and commitment to the country's safety and security of gay men and women who cannot publicly acknowledge who they are. There are many soldiers in uniform today, and many gay men and lesbians there in the West Point graduating class, who cannot say "I am wearing a uniform. I am fighting for my country. I am gay, and I want to salute my President."
President Obama, who has acknowledged gays and lesbians in the military services when speaking before gay rights groups needs to begin acknowledging them when the entire nation and world are listening.
And lastly, the President's strategy must be more than about Afghanistan. Commending allies that support US efforts in Afghanistan is not necessarily the makings of a new global commons.
The single biggest error of this otherwise excellent speech was linking the ups and downs of Afghanistan to the much more significant revitalization of America's domestic innovation base and to the vital need to build-in developing powers like Brazil, Turkey, China, Russia, South Africa, Indonesia, and India into the next architecture of global power.
Afghanistan today looks like a sink hole for American power, not a multiplier. In contrast, the nuclear deal making the Obama administration has done has begun to reverse a 'systemic doubt' other nations hold about America's ability to achieve any of the goals it sets out to do.
It would be great if Afghanistan began to move in the right direction, either through progress in reconciliation and reintegration of key parts of the Taliban into some form of acceptable reconstructed political order. It would be even better if the US got Israel and Palestine and regional stakeholders off the narcotic of peace talk paralysis and on to a credible two state track.
Moving the Middle East into a place where Israel might be able to talk over security interests with scores of new Arab states with which it normalized relations - and decreasing America's military overextension in Afghanistan are two fundamental factors that could and probably would alter the calculations Iran's leadership is making today about American weakness.
Thus, the President needs to make his National Security Strategy about more than Afghanistan. Afghanistan may ultimately be a failure - but that does not mean that his Presidency is a bust or his chances for resurrecting a new global social contract that restores American leverage in a world of new and old power stakeholders should end.
All in all, the President's remarks - which I hope are reflected in the National Security Strategy - imply a commitment to creative reinvigoration of America's national capabilities and purposes.
If Obama follows this up with actions - for instance diverting a large portion of the $100 billion per year going to support a questionable military challenge in Afghanistan and rather divert those funds into a U.S.-led international R&D effort on mass scale renewable energy technologies, or other key, job-creating national infrastructure investment, then President Obama's legacy on both the domestic and the international front could be truly great.
-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note and is also Editor-at-Large of TPM Media LLC. Clemons can be followed on Twitter @SCClemons
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First, our brand is horribly damaged through the use of torture - and Obama is continuing and extending our right to torture and disappear people. The Supreme Court has now stated that if we get the prisoners to Baghram, into the war zone, they can be disappeared forever. And this is the end Obama pushed for.
Second, Obama continues to ignore Palestine, the ugly seed of discontent in our foreign policy. Like Bush he'll put all his attention on telling the Muslim states to change, acting as Israel's puppet for Israel's interests, and ignoring America's.
Third, when we leave Iraq I'll believe it. I imagine there will continue to be more than enough excuses to stay, however we label the US troops and contractors there.
Fourth, where's the rest of the world except in vague terms? All I see is the same old same old - 4 countries in the Mideast. (And Obama's tepid involvement in environmental accords hardly represents a watershed for a new way, while it's hard to summarize the total impotence I feel in front of the horror of the Gulf of Mexico leak, while the President declares our idiots who can't manage to drill an oil pipe without catastrophe must suddenly invent a deus ex machina solution to our energy problems - uh, sure.)
Fifth, I don't buy this nuclear dance - Obama latched on to a single foreign policy issue, with Lugar, and that's the only horse in his stable so that's what he rides. It's certainly not the most important world issue, and our foreign policy is abhorrently stunted. There is a huge issue of Russian and Chinese influence that is routinely ignored or encouraged the last decade, and Obama continues the tradition.
Last, the speech kind of reads like, "What I would do if I were President", not like an Executive laying out his plan of order.
More to disappoint. Where's the beef? I don't watch a lot of political speeches, but I remember one Clinton State of the Union where he took the fight to Congress, laid out a wide tarp nailed on the ends of what he wanted to do here, what he wanted to do there. He took the fight to the enemy, he set his agenda. With Obama, we just know the wars will go on as long as they go on. This is not a new world order - it is just faking it while we look for a lucky break - not even containment - we've decided to wade further into the muck. And for what values? "Trust us"? That cow's left the barn.
May 24, 2010 1:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
But don't forget that Obama was "confident but humble," in the immortal words of Steve Clemons, who could not possibly suck up any harder!
May 24, 2010 7:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
George -- thanks for your note, but if you read my stuff regularly, you will see that I'm no suck up. I have critiqued the Obama team harshly at times -- but I do see some tick ups in what they are trying to do. I diverge from the Obama team on the solvency of their approach to Afghanistan, but overall, their approach to nuclear issues - and some of what they are trying to put in place on the Middle East deserves a new look. All best, Steve Clemons
May 24, 2010 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
"...I do see some tick ups in what they are trying to do."
Make that " I do see some tick ups in what they say they are trying to do." and you would be a lot more accurate.
Obama's actions have not matched his words in any way, shape or form.
.
May 25, 2010 9:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
'Hiccups", then?
May 25, 2010 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
But don't forget that Obama was "confident but humble," in the immortal words of Steve Clemons, who could not possibly suck up any harder!
May 24, 2010 7:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
And this 'umble blogging software kept telling me...
Invalid request!
...when I posted that comment.
May 24, 2010 7:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
And that tweren't 'umble George himself in knickers asking the Headmarster, "Please, sir, can I have some more?"
May 24, 2010 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
One "W" off the compass, three more to go.
May 24, 2010 9:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not catching a signifigant departure from said what he said about foreign policy in his inaugaral address. This may be lazy googling, but here are a few points he addressed then. Beyond which, actions are more important than words, and it's hard not to be disappointed in so many of them. Bagram, drone killings of civilians, re-authorization of the Patriot Act, the *surge* in Afghanistan, the increased use of military contractors, etc. His claim to want to rebuild America doesn't ring true: no meaningful jobs bill, a Deficit Commission hinting at Sacrifices Americans will need to make to balance the budget...
http://www.theseminal.com/2009/01/27/5-foreign-policy-themes-in-obama%e2%80%99s-inaugural-address/
May 24, 2010 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
"We have supported the election of a sovereign government -- now we must strengthen its capacities. We’ve brought hope to the Afghan people -- now we must see that their country does not fall prey to our common enemies. Cadets, there will be difficult days ahead. We will adapt, we will persist, and I have no doubt that together with our Afghan and international partners, we will succeed in Afghanistan. (Applause.)"
"Supported the election FRAUD of a government" would have been more accurate. And as for "international partners," they are leaving the sinking ship. The new British gov't plans to exit Obama's Folly ASAP.
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0523/we-global-policeman-britain-afghanistan/
May 24, 2010 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
And says the troops won't be sent to the *Kandahar Offensive*! Wow.
May 24, 2010 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
No wonder an earlier Administration was so keen to get Georgia into NATO. They'd never desert us!
May 24, 2010 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
"We're all Georgians today!"
May 24, 2010 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama HAS supported the election of a government, but that was in the past. It turns out the corrupt puppet government in Kabul wasn't elected fairly, so presumably the US doesn't support "the election of a sovereign government" anymore.
As for the "common enemies" of the Afghan people and the US military, this could refer to Martians or vampires - better to keep them out of any country.
This pretty speech probably contains much more obvious lies and omissions than this!
May 24, 2010 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, I chose to restrict myself to half a paragraph, in the interests of sanity, since Obama's speeches are as painful to read/listen to as W.'s. They fill me with existential despair.
May 24, 2010 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I ran into this program a few days ago, diachronic, and my infernal brain couldn't remember *where* when I wanted to check it out further; it turned out it was an army site; I was trying to find out more about bunker-buster bombs... I finally hit the write google terms, found it, but Counterpunch has a looong piece about it; another seemingly benign program that may not be so very purty in its application:
http://counterpunch.org/price12012009.html
May 24, 2010 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for that great link, wendy.
HTS looks like another example of the sinister collaboration between science and coercion that we saw at Gitmo with its psychiatrists advising on torture processes that would produce syndromes like 'learned helplessness' in detainees.
Less sinister on the surface, maybe. But on a far grander scale, and maybe not much less sinister in the end.
May 25, 2010 9:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kinda creeped me out when I first read about it on the Army site; when I found the Counterpunch, it had me pinging with Doublespeak Programs. Might be worth a blog; so many is-sues, so little time...
tra-la-la.
May 25, 2010 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Beyond doubt, worth a blog; even a book.
Some things to ponder:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/world/25military.html?hp (Petraeus and the US Army leap into the intelligence void left by the CIA)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/magazine/16Sunstein-t.html?pagewanted=1
(Cass Sunstein's shaping of our pliable President's thought, into a direction of "benevolent paternalism"- data, data, data is what feeds this engine of HTS)
May 25, 2010 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah; I'd seen it.
"The authorized activities could strain relationships with friendly governments like Saudi Arabia or Yemen — which might allow the operations but be loath to acknowledge their cooperation — or incite the anger of hostile nations like Iran and Syria. Many in the military are also concerned that as American troops assume roles far from traditional combat, they would be at risk of being treated as spies if captured and denied the Geneva Convention protections afforded military detainees."
Ya think???
May 25, 2010 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do you feel about Petraeus having his own covert ops force/spy network- that answers to no one but him?
I'll take him as leader of the 'shadow army' over Erik Prince...
May 25, 2010 8:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
no question though, it is sobering to think that the wheels have come off the chain of command. Deepwater Horizon isn't the only thing that Obama no longer controls.
May 25, 2010 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Personally, my big fear is Those Dudes still answer to Dick Cheney and other $$$-globalists whose names we never would recognize were we to hear them.
May 25, 2010 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Would these "confident but humble" gestures include the ramping up of targeting killings, drone warfare and the continued use of rendition and indefinite detention?
Hmm?
May 24, 2010 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
"He seemed to confess that for America to return to a position of global credibility that it needed to work constructively with other powers, not think that power or significant accomplishments can be made independent of other of the world's key stakeholders."
There is some truth to that. It has a good ring to it. Nevertheless, Obama's ability to walk the walk will be what defines his presidency.
It's true that the U.S. needs to "work constructively with other powers" to forge an effective foreign policy.
Question is, are other countries interested in working with us?
Obama's lack of experience in such matters has always worried me. Almost every president in U.S. history has been either a lawyer, doctor, or business man. They attained the White House because not only were they smart and well informed (usually), but because throughout the course of their career they had been forced to APPLY the knowledge they had learned.
Doctors have to treat patients, or even operate on them. Lawyers must actually practice law before a judge and jury. Business men must actually implement their business plan to create a successful business.
Obama, on the other hand, has never done any of these things. Thanks largely to GW, we live in an increasingly anti-American world.
Does Obama have the savvy to acknowledge the motives of other nations and steer them in a direction that benefits the U.S.?
Only time will tell.
May 24, 2010 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately, Obama's primary skill seems to be reading speeches. He does that better than any president since Kennedy. But, I have yet to see where he has any core values that drive his decision making, or any courage to lead in directions not favored by big money, or any ability to resist the drumbeat for war that seems to pervade Washington, D.C.
I can't remember a decision he has made that raised my spirits, or one that caused me to say "Thank God, it isn't Bush in that office". It is those decisions that are the basis for rating his presidency, not his speeches, however great they are.
May 24, 2010 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder what we're trying to restore here. Since I was a kid there was no time where we were reliably a benign, constructive force in the world. We're always doing something awful, whether its toppling elected leaders in Chile or poisoning crops in Columbia or killing civilians in our War on Terror.
The only way for us to be a responsible, benign force for good would be to really demilitarize. I know deadlines are coming up in Iraq and Afghanistan. They must be taken seriously.
May 24, 2010 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
" recognizing the vital need for the US to return to its role as a benign, constructive force in global affairs."
Sounds good, but what a bunch of bullshit after the escalation of George Bush's "war on terror" in Afghanistan.
Actions always speak louder than words and they become deafening when they are the opposite of the words that are spoken.
.
May 25, 2010 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
The only way for us to be a responsible, benign force for good would be to really demilitarize. I know deadlines are coming up in Iraq and Afghanistan. They must be taken seriously.
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"In his speech, President Obama said that this is a time for "national renewal" and "global leadership". The entire tone of his speech was confident but humble - seemingly recognizing the vital need for the US to return to its role as a benign, constructive force in global affairs."
I love that. I have recently heard friend of mine saying:
"America is the lungs of the world."
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March 12, 2011 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Have heard that he plays golf in his free time. I guess he has a golf simulator at home lol
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"The President made a compelling call for significant reinvestment in the core strengths of the country - in the sources of American innovation, in education, R&D, next generation energy projects, and the like. He said that there is no way that the US can presume global leadership when its home front is deteriorating and in poor shape. "
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