The right's criticism of the Obama administration's foreign policy is literally nothing but hilariously blatant hypocrisy and this article exemplifies that perfectly.
Oh, Obama was spineless and let Assad step all over him, you say? I remember this a bit differently. I recall Obama boldly declaring to Congress and the American people that American intervention in Syria was extremely necessary, specifically stating that the credibility of the United States on the world stage would be at stake if we failed to respond to Assad's use of chemical weapons. Congressional leaders immediately went to work whipping the votes for the resolution to authorize military force, and the talking heads on cable news commenced the spin cycle. Congress never passed that resolution primarily because
it was opposed by almost every single Republican there. Literally only 8 members of the House GOP caucus had declared their support while 191 of them announced their opposition. The conservative media had a field day painting Obama as a reckless warmonger while literally praising Vladimir Putin for his "principled" opposition to the President. America's posture towards Syria became spineless when certain news organizations
eagerly provided a soapbox to that nation's dictator, not only ignoring the fact that his regime was at that very moment massacring thousands of its own citizens, but even lending credibility to the absurd conspiracy theory that a chemical attack on a fortified rebel position in the middle of a surprise attack conducted by government forces was somehow anything other than his regime launching a gas attack on its own people.
One might complain that it was Obama's fault we came out of this looking bad because he had no business making the "red line" comment in the first place? If so, you might have a point, except that this entire line of criticism against Obama is centered on his alleged failure to protect American interests abroad. If the US were to have ignored the Syrian Civil War completely it would be globally regarded as an unprecedented abandonment of our interests in the Middle East, giving Putin free reign to court our current Arabic allies to his side.
You might say Obama was weak because he requested Congressional authorization in the first place. Let's not kid ourselves here, that would have been a PR nightmare for the President because the GOP would come out swinging even harder than they did (and also probably causing outrage and revolt among the Democratic Left). Besides, while Obama claimed that he didn't technically require Congressional authority to strike against Syria, that was nothing more than a footnote reaffirming that the Executive Branch is still continuing the 40-year precedent of claiming the War Powers Act's unconstitutionality while faithfully adhering to its every letter, because seriously could you imagine if someone sued and an active military operation suddenly fell into limbo pending a judgement from the Supreme Court? Besides, it'd be ridiculous for the GOP to claim Obama shouldn't have sought congressional authorization to attack Syria when so many Republican Congressmen complained that he didn't seek authorization against Libya. The War Powers Act didn't require authorization for Libya because it made exceptions for treaty obligations like actions authorized by the UN Security Council.
But back to the article:
This is hilarious because we're not in the Cold War anymore. Responsible nuclear security is further multilateral arms limitation agreements, not reigniting the arms race.
Seriously? Blaming the sequester on Obama? He had nothing to do with the fact that the Supercommittee couldn't reach any agreement. The only reason it even got to that point was because the Congressional GOP constantly played chicken with a Federal budget default to cause a debt ceiling hostage crisis at every opportunity. The silliest part is that Treasury bond yields were so low and stable at the time that they had a negative real interest rate- the government would have literally been saving money long-term if they were allowed to borrow more.
Ultimately the GOP has undermined Obama's presidency at every opportunity and that's forced this alleged impotency on the international stage. This sort of attack on his foreign policy is like tripping someone as they walk past, just so you can insult them for falling to the floor. A modern democracy requires a "loyal opposition" willing to negotiate in good faith on substantive international issues and to whatever extent America has become ineffectual, it's because we've lost that capability to work across the aisle without being stabbed in the back.
