It only took two people (Manning and Snowden) to remove any remaining credibility left in US foreign policy. You almost have to feel embarrassed for Obama and co.
Well, in reality, the two people that removed any remaining credibility left in the US foreign policy are George W Bush and Obama. Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice helped, though.
Come on, are Obama and W much worse than Reagan, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Rossevelt? The US will keep using up the last of its credibility year after year, and of course that just means it isn't.
Yes, in terms of foreign policy, I think that W and especially Obama have been profoundly, historically, difficult-to-believe bad.
I'm not trying to downplay Iran-Contra, Gulf of Tonkin / Vietnam, etc., but the last two administrations have taken what was unduly hostile (and expensive) logistical capability around the world and turned it into Empire.
The needs, wants, representative processes, laws, and sovereignty of other nations have reduced in relevance to the Empire's decision making process to zero.
It's interesting you bring up Roosevelt: don't forget - that was an actual, declared war - by Congress. So in terms of assessing foreign policy that's different for sure.
By comparison, Obama has attacked no less than seven different countries in undeclared wars. I think this is, as you say, "much worse."
The last two presidents will always be the worst ones then? There was a lot of shady stuff going on during W2 that makes today's situation look like child's play.
The last 8 years have been relatively quiet compared to the 00s or 90s or 80s. Historically speaking, I bet 20 years from now most of Obama's interventions are mere footnotes, like Reagan's mostly are.
It's hard to top putting hundreds of thousands of citizens in camps and stealing all their property. And that's just if we limit it to the 20th century to present.
Serious question - do you think it has anything to do with both of these being 'internet age' Presidents?
I mean, prior to 2001 the web wasn't what it is today - but now news/information/opinion/whistleblowing/whatever spreads quickly and easily and reaches pretty much everyone. Could it not just be that it's harder to be clandestine and easier to speak out / monitor everything?
I would argue the opposite. Wars have eroded US global power. Iran was the biggest regional winner in the Iraq war, Saudi Arabia the biggest loser. US has weakened its position in the Middle East and Eurasia. Saudis are dealing with China more openly and Turkey is more independent. Even Germany is now more openly pushing it's own agenda in relation to Russia.
>Obama has attacked no less than seven different countries in undeclared wars.
International laws have changed a lot since WWII. Formal declarations of war (using the text 'declaration of war' in the bill) are not used anymore. There is no need to declare war if the war has UN authorization. If a country goes into war without UN authorization they can't do formal declaration without violating UN charter they have ratified.
If you look at the wars US has been involved since 2001, they are either wars authorized with UN resolution and funded by Congress or they are 'military engagements' authorized by Congress.
I'm no fan of either Obama or W, but I do think your comment is unfair. The truth is, given the peak status US enjoyed, there is no foreign policy would bring meaningful and tangible benefit to people of USA. It's a typical diminishing marginal utility situation.
> but the last two administrations have taken what was unduly hostile (and expensive) logistical capability around the world and turned it into Empire.
The US has been, and acted as, a global empire from the end of WWII, and a basically unrivaled one since the fall of the USSR. It is certainly not either of the most recent two administrations that did that.
> Obama has attacked no less than seven different countries in undeclared wars.
I suspect you are mistakenly applying a "magic words" standard to Congress' Article I power to declare war, but if you don't identify which specific instances you are talking about, I can't really tell how much that explains.
>The needs, wants, representative processes, laws, and sovereignty of other nations have reduced in relevance to the Empire's decision making process to zero.
Other nations are not obligated to actually do anything or stand up for themselves and if it is known that their rhetoric will result in zero action why would you bother listening to them in the first place?
Nah, I just picked the most egregious ones as examples, skipping the ones that were lower profile. As I get older, I just see things repeating over and over; the young kids think we are reaching into new bads just because they are seeing it for the first time.
"...the bulk of U.S. foreign surveillance operations are governed not by acts of Congress, but by a 33-year-old executive order issued unilaterally by President Ronald Reagan."
Actually, it's not Obama and Co. you should feel embarrassed for, it's the entire political establishment in the U.S. you should feel embarrassed about. This has been going on for years, it's just that it was all finally revealed to the public on Obama's watch. I applaud Snowden and Manning for their contributions to getting the truth out there, truly... but I don't blame Obama. If Snowden had gotten there sooner, it would've come out under Bush. If it had taken longer, it would've come out under the next president. You can't blame the current president for all the wrongs in your country, he didn't create most of them. He didn't set the ball rolling, he's really just playing with the cards he was dealt... and sure, he may suck as a president but he's not entirely to blame for your country's political woes.
Let's remember, there were people who were so upset with American foreign policy that in 2001 they were willing take a ridiculous amount of risk to stage a massive terrorist attack on U.S. soil. 8 years before Obama became president... on W's watch. But W. wasn't president until January 20, 2001, I would wager such an attack took far longer to plan than the 7 months and 22 days that Bush Jr. had been president. So it wasn't retaliation for anything he did either.
I'd like to believe that people don't just stage terrorist attacks for no reason. People [I really hope... I have to believe] are mostly good. When treated with respect and dignity, they don't just stage terrorist attacks on other nations.
That had nothing to do with Obama's foreign policy... you could perhaps argue it had little to do with W's... except that he's the son of Bush Sr. (so some influence there). The war on terror began on W's watch... but realistically it was his father who started shipping American troops en-masse to the middle east shortly before the Gulf War. If you recall, at the time, everyone was concerned that Bush Sr. was going to start another Vietnam... on the Middle East... which has now been turned into this Islam vs. the U.S. mess. [I would definitely be worried about what will happen if Jeb Bush becomes the 45th President of the United States - unless he wants his legacy to be coming in and cleaning up the rest of his family's mess.]
So should you feel embarrassed for Obama? I don't think so. He's not done much worse than his predecessors. He's just failed to clean up the mess he was left with. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure there's a single living person who could clean up the mess that is the U.S. political system without getting themselves assassinated in the process.
I wish along with what he uncovered, Snowden had uncovered who really killed Kennedy - or at least, who planned/commissioned it... and what really happened in Roswell? I mean, I'd really like to know are they telling the truth or not? If not, what really went on there? Is there a conspiracy? Was it covered up? Are all the people written off as crazy actually telling the truth? Having this constant is it true isn't it true is tedious. The evidence of conspiracy is sketchy at best, fabricated at worst, yet there is so much passion behind these "conspiracies" you have to wonder, is there any truth whatsoever to those fighting for them?
Given everything recently that shows there has been this conspiracy to spy on the masses that reaches to the very highest levels of government - you have to wonder, what else don't we know yet? You have to wonder, what has still yet to come to light?
