Typically speaking being a "peacetime President" isn't something you choose.
Johnson could have chosen not to start the War in Vietnam.
Nixon could have left in a much more timely manner.
Reagan could have chosen not to invade Granada.
Bush the Elder could have chosen not to fight Iraq.
Bush the Younger could have chosen not to simply go after Al Qaeda, and nothing else.
Obama could have left Iraq and Afghanistan within his first year in office.
And this is all sadly true. I would add that Somalia and Panama were totally unneeded as well.
Comparative to the 2000s, I view the '90s as relative peacetime, even though it really wasn't. If we could return to that I would be happy.
The 1990s were the most peaceful post-WWII decade, but even that had the pointless Gulf War that indirectly caused 9/11.
That overseas funding you're talking about went into the realpolitik strategy of ensuring peace in other nations.
I've never heard even the neoconservatives claimed world peace was the goal of these policies.
