OPINION:
President Obama informed us when he was first contending for the presidency that he viewed American intervention abroad as the proximate cause of much global turmoil. If elected, he said, he would pursue an open-hand policy toward all while shrinking our military, our nuclear arsenal and our propensity for being hands-on. Mr. Obama still muses about unfurling the American fist, offering a glad hand and seeing the arc of history bend in our direction, as though good intentions played a concrete role in the world of realpolitik.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and others observed this new American modesty and concluded that Mr. Obama was wanting — in knowledge of global affairs, comprehension of human nature, appreciation of world history and backbone. What they found instead was a hand-wringing dilettante ready to make excuses for his own inaction in the face of global miscreants, someone who would rush to mollify adversaries instead of confront them. Mr. Obama has remained tethered to his dangerous delusions for six full years, playing the role of the philosopher-president.
It is now dawning on those who trusted in this flawed approach, in this new isolationism, that Russia, China, Iran, the Islamic State and al Qaeda do not do philosophy, but instead rush in where American vacillation or misjudgment has created a vacuum. There is no solace in claiming good intentions as our influence wanes and our enemies advance.
PAUL BLOUSTEIN
Cincinnati
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