President Obama's "Do Nothing" Foreign Policy

President Barack Obama’s "do nothing" foreign policy has been a bust of from the very beginning. From his apologetic stance toward hostile Arab states to his concerted non-support of Israel, his inattention to portentous developments in Latin America to his craven policies with our European counterparts, President Obama has failed as Commander in Chief.

Obama went throughout the Muslim Middle East at the outset of his presidency, apologizing for this country’s previous lack of rapprochement with the region. In his quest to sway public opinion on global warming and the site for the 2016 Olympics, the international community resoundingly adored him then ignored him. His receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, while arming and supporting the United States’ abortive stance in Afghanistan, rendered irrelevant the myopic political worldview of the Nobel Committee and the President’s commitment to peace.

When the President removed our defenses from the former Eastern Bloc, including Poland and the Czech Republic, he advanced an ongoing policy of accommodation with antagonistic nations, appeasing the preferences of autocratic Russia while ignoring that country’s growing alliance with the fanatical Iranian regime.

Also in 2009, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the same head of state who declared that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth) won reelection on disputed voter tallies. Ahmadinejad claimed to reclaim the presidency by 60%, widely disputed by demonstrations and rebellions throughout the country. President Obama stood back and said nothing. His shameful non-intervention discouraged freedom fighters around the world, especially democratic activists in the Middle East.

How many domestic terrorist attacks has this country endured under Obama’s watch? Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Somalia, the Christmas Day bomber, attempted to bring down a commercial airliner over Detroit. In the Fort Hood Massacre, deranged psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on our men and women serving in this country. The safeguards protecting our forces did not properly screen and sideline this domestic terrorist. This lack of oversight is inexcusable, yet President Obama hid behind a culture of political correctness instead of heavy-handed support for our soldiers and retaliation against this nation’s internal enemies.

On another positive note, the assassinations of Osama Bin Laden and Yemeni-American terrorist-acolyte Anwar al-Awlaki have provided this country and our allies much needed respite, stemming the tide and diminishing the influence of the terrorist group which twice attacked the United States World Trade Center in a decade. However, this administration’s frayed relationship with Pakistan, complete with billions of dollars of wasted foreign aid, still defies reason.

Furthermore, the President did end major operations in Iraq as promised, but in Afghanistan the federal government is still spending two billion dollars a week on the failed mission of establishing peace and building a peaceful nation. The tribal warlords still trade opium, and the essentially corrupted Karzai regime in Kabul has emboldened our enemies and frustrated our efforts. How many empires have faltered in their vain attempts to conquer and create a sphere of influence in the region? Alexander the Great, the Romans, the Mongols, the British, the Soviets, and now the United States have all failed. Yet President Obama refuses to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.

The Arab Spring began with the self-immolation of wronged Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010. The CIA was caught off-guard by this sudden revolution, which spread throughout the Arab World, crippling Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's grip on power, and thus crippling one semi-reliable ally in the region. Soon, dictators throughout the region were falling and fleeing, from Zine Ben Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, to Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, to the ouster and mass assassination of Libyan strongman Moammar Ghadhafi. Rather than leaving bad enough alone, President Obama instigated a no-fly zone over Libya, with no knowledge of the rebel combatants’ stance on anything beyond their growing unrest to wrest power from Ghadhafi. The United States’ brief military venture yielded mixed results in light of growing internal antagonisms, which in the past two weeks have boiled over into violent protests and unwarranted attacks on United States Embassies in Egypt and Libya. The President has done nothing to regroup or equip our foreign diplomats, now more than ever in harm’s way as radical Islamists press their power against this country’s presence in the Middle East.

South America is turning into another hostile sphere of influence, with China reaching out Brazil and Iran forming alliances with Venezuela. These diplomatic links spell nothing but trouble for the United States. How many Israeli consulates have been shut down throughout the region? How many Jewish communities are enduring persecution because of the rising Anti-Semitism permeating the continent? President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, a Communist in populist clothing, has expelled the entire Israeli diplomatic delegation from his nation. President Obama has done nothing.

President Obama has also said nothing and continues to do nothing while massive gangs entrenched in Central America and throughout Mexico terrorize Latin America with drug wars which have neutralized the police forces while exposing the rampant corruption of the political classes. The resulting waves of political destabilization and forced immigration have harmed the security on our borders. Within the US Capitol, secret forces exposed a plot between Iran and rogue Mexican cartels to assassinate Saudi officials in Washington D.C. These breaches of national security, coupled with the frequent leaks excoriated by California Senator Dianne Feinstein, all suggest that President Obama’s administration is not qualified to secure the national interests of this country.

The greatest foreign policy failure of this presidency, however, lies in the break-down between Israel and the United States, culminating in the Democratic Party’s attempt to remove God and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from their party platform. The president lectured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the proper borders of his own country, citing “land swaps” as a means for achieving peace. Contrary to the hues of disapproval from the press, Prime Minister Netanyahu properly lectured the president that he could not permit Israel to recede back to the pre-1967 borders. DespiteNetanyahu’s demands for a “red line” on Iran -- indicating that if the fanatical regime in Tehran persists in accessing nuclear capabilities, Israel will strike -- President Obama has refused to signal any support, still harping on and hoping in the failed pragmatism of talks and negotiations.

Israel remains further isolated in the Middle East, with compromising dictators replaced by radical Muslim regimes with no character of compromise nor charter of respect for the Jewish State. This nation’s armed are forces are pressed and weakened throughout the world, yet President Obama has done nothing to allay the justified concerns of our allies, putting his campaign ahead of the comity much lacking in the international community. The list of foreign policy failures all excite to one point: Obama has failed as chief executive of the United States and has not further right to remain Commander in Chief of the United States of America.