Zakaria: So when we talked when you were campaigning for the presidency, I asked you what Administration's foreign policy
you admired, and you had said that you looked at Bush Sr.'s diplomacy,
and I took that to mean the pragmatism, the sense of limits, good
diplomacy, as you looked upon it favorably. Now that you are President,
how has your thinking evolved? Do you still look at that as a hallmark
of good diplomacy?
Obama: It is true that I've been complimentary of George H. W. Bush's
foreign policy and I continue to believe that he managed a very
difficult period very effectively. Now that I've been in office for
three years, I think that I'm always cautious about comparing what we've
done to what others have done, just because each period is unique. Each
set of challenges is unique. But what I can say is that I made a
commitment to change the trajectory of American foreign policy in a way
that would end the war in Iraq, refocus on defeating our primary enemy,
al-Qaeda, strengthen our alliances and our leadership in multilateral
fora and restore American leadership in the world. And I think we have
accomplished those principal goals.
We still have a lot of work to do, but if you look at the pivot from
where we were in 2008 to where we are today: the Iraq war is over, we
refocused attention on al-Qaeda, and they are badly wounded. They're not
eliminated, but the defeat not just of bin Laden, but most of the top
leadership, the tightening noose around their safe havens, the
incapacity for them to finance themselves, they are much less capable
than they were back in 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment