Obama’s foreign policy looks like moderation, not change

Obama’s trip was designed to show how he can perform on the world stage.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama has presented himself to American voters as the candidate of change, but on a weeklong foreign trip that ends today, he sounded more like a traditionalist when it comes to foreign policy.

In some cases, the foreign policy middle has shifted Obama’s way. His proposal to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq over 16 months no longer seems radical.

Iraq’s prime minister endorsed it, and even President Bush now agrees that there should be a “time horizon” for some troop withdrawal. Virtually everyone now agrees that more American troops are needed in Afghanistan.

In other cases, Obama staked out the traditional middle ground. He toughened his rhetoric on Iran, was unstinting in his support for Israel and called on Europe to do more to fight terrorism, particularly in Afghanistan.

Nuances aside, those are all positions with which Bush and Obama’s Republican presidential opponent, Sen. John McCain, could agree.

Obama’s trip was aimed at reassuring American voters that although he has little foreign policy and no military experience, he’s up the job of commander in chief. So, it’s not surprising that he avoided making brash new proposals or offering detailed policy prescriptions.

His trip was choreographed to show the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee at ease on the world stage.

He met U.S. troops in Afghanistan; drove with Jordan’s King Abdullah; stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Israelis in the rocket-besieged town of Sderot; and spoke before some 200,000 cheering people in Berlin.

The trip, however, did little to clarify how the senator from Illinois might deal with a globeful of tough problems if he makes it to the Oval Office.

What would he do if neither negotiations nor tougher sanctions persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions?

Would he pressure Israel and the Palestinians to make concessions for peace, for example halting construction of Jewish settlements and disarming Islamic militants?

Obama, however, has caught a wave of change in foreign policy that, while not of his making, has been breaking his way as the Bush administration’s penchant for muscular unilateralism has collided with hard military, economic and diplomatic realities.

On issue after issue — Iraq troop withdrawals, direct U.S. talks with Iran, sending more U.S. combat forces to Afghanistan — the consensus is moving toward positions that Obama has long espoused.