David Rothkopf: The perils of America’s Pacific presidency
[David Rothkopf is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and chief executive of Garten Rothkopf, LLC.]
President Barack Obama hoped to find solace overseas following his “shellacking” in the US midterm elections. Instead, despite some progress, he has suffered a series of setbacks. Little meaningful was achieved at the Group of 20 leading nations summit. Trade talks with South Korea have stalled. Even his rather successful trade trip to India produced negative reaction in key parts of the region. Yet these difficulties highlight a bigger problem than his domestic or international standing. They underscore the challenges associated with perhaps the most profound transformation this change-oriented administration is trying to achieve: making this America’s first Pacific presidency.
Titillating but absurd debates about his birthplace aside, no one can dispute that a president raised in the mid-Pacific also came into office seeking a foreign policy more oriented toward transpacific issues than that of his predecessors. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush sought to rebalance policies in that direction but were largely distracted. So it has fallen to Mr Obama to usher in this era and address the challenges it brings.
Some are historical. America has had two major prior eras of foreign policy. During its first century, it turned inward. During the 20th century it ascended globally, with the core of that ascendancy built on transatlantic issues, alliances and conflicts. Over time, its relatively large economic and military size, and its cultural and linguistic ties, provided advantages over principal allies. It did not always get what it wanted but, as the 20th century progressed, there was no doubt who was first among the equals.
On this most recent trip to Asia, Mr Obama discovered just how different the next century is going to be...
Read entire article at Financial Times (UK)
President Barack Obama hoped to find solace overseas following his “shellacking” in the US midterm elections. Instead, despite some progress, he has suffered a series of setbacks. Little meaningful was achieved at the Group of 20 leading nations summit. Trade talks with South Korea have stalled. Even his rather successful trade trip to India produced negative reaction in key parts of the region. Yet these difficulties highlight a bigger problem than his domestic or international standing. They underscore the challenges associated with perhaps the most profound transformation this change-oriented administration is trying to achieve: making this America’s first Pacific presidency.
Titillating but absurd debates about his birthplace aside, no one can dispute that a president raised in the mid-Pacific also came into office seeking a foreign policy more oriented toward transpacific issues than that of his predecessors. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush sought to rebalance policies in that direction but were largely distracted. So it has fallen to Mr Obama to usher in this era and address the challenges it brings.
Some are historical. America has had two major prior eras of foreign policy. During its first century, it turned inward. During the 20th century it ascended globally, with the core of that ascendancy built on transatlantic issues, alliances and conflicts. Over time, its relatively large economic and military size, and its cultural and linguistic ties, provided advantages over principal allies. It did not always get what it wanted but, as the 20th century progressed, there was no doubt who was first among the equals.
On this most recent trip to Asia, Mr Obama discovered just how different the next century is going to be...