'Leading from behind.' A White House official coined that phrase in 2011 to describe President Obama's Libyan policy. His political opponents quickly seized on that characterization as an apt metaphor for how the president conducts foreign policy.
While the Administration pushed back, liberal pundits embraced the phrase--at least initially. 'If leading from behind brings the success of the Libyan intervention... 'lead me from behind, Mr. President,' cheered New York Times columnist Roger Cohen.
The Daily Beastâ's Michael Tomasky purred, '...this Libya operation is, so far, not only a big success, but also a historic accomplishment in American history.'
That was then. Libya today is a hell hole. No serious observer of foreign policy regards that operation as a success. Indeed, the world today is littered with spectacular U.S. foreign policy failures.
Remember the Russian 'reset'? Dialog and a nuclear arms treaty that let Moscow stand pat while we reduced our arsenal were going to lead to a new era of understanding. Instead, Croatia's [sic!] been annexed; Ukraine is under attack, and relations between Washington and the Kremlin are worse than any time since the Cold War.
Pulling out of Iraq according to a timetable rather than the situation on the ground? That opened the door for ISIS to get a strong foothold. Today, it controls a third of Iraq and much of Syria. |