Obama seeks ground between isolation and intervention

Associated Press

WEST POINT, N.Y.

Seeking to redefine America’s foreign policy for a post-war era, President Barack Obama on Wednesday declared that the United States remains the only nation with the capacity to lead on the world stage but argued it would be a mistake to channel that power into unrestrained military adventures.

Obama’s approach, outlined in a commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy, underscored his efforts to straddle the line between global isolation and intervention. Neither view, he said, “fully speaks to the demands of this moment.”

“It is absolutely true that in the 21st century, American isolation is not an option,” Obama said in remarks to more than 1,000 of the military’s newest officers. “But to say that we have an interest in pursuing peace and freedom beyond our borders is not to say that every problem has a military solution.”

Obama often has struggled to articulate not only what should fill the space between intervention and isolation but also any success the administration has had in finding that middle ground. His preferred tool kit, which includes economic sanctions, diplomatic negotiations and international coalition building, rarely generates quick fixes and is often more ambiguous than more easily explained military action.

The president’s strategy also has garnered mixed results. Though diplomacy and sanctions have brought the U.S. and Iran closer to a nuclear accord than ever before, neither approach has stopped the bloodshed of Syria’s four-year civil war or prevented Russia from annexing territory from Ukraine.

The result at home has been a drumbeat of criticism from Republicans and others who say the president has squandered America’s global leadership and emboldened international foes in Syria and Russia, as well as China. The public’s approval of the president’s foreign policy has declined, even as his policies hew closely with Americans’ stated opposition to more military conflicts.

Obama’s speech Wednesday was part of a concerted White House effort to answer critics and more clearly define his foreign policy philosophy. He outlined plans to seek approval from Congress for $5 billion that could be used to help countries fighting terrorism, foreshadowed a more robust U.S. military program to train and equip vetted Syrian rebels and declared that seeking international consensus through the United Nations or NATO is an example of American leadership, not weakness.