Can Obama make a dovish foreign policy popular?

American voters tend to like their presidents tough. The legacy of the Iraq War could change that.

Obama
(Image credit: (CC BY: Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson))

One of Barack Obama's most redeeming qualities is his visceral distaste for armed conflict. Every time some hawk or another starts clamoring for military intervention, whether it's in Russia or Syria or Iraq, it's comforting to know that it makes the commander-in-chief squeamish. And Obama appears to have grown only more confident in his steadfast refusal to be drawn into war, possibly marking a distinct era in American foreign policy: the ascendance of the doves.

As my colleague Ryan Cooper has pointed out, hawkishness is the default setting of the American foreign policy establishment. For the most part, it has been this way since the end of World War II, compelling presidents and presidential aspirants alike to be tough on America's perceived enemies, from the communists in Vietnam's jungles to the terrorists in North Waziristan. Hawkishness has as much to do with policy as politics, tilting the field rightward and compelling national politicians to adopt a harder line. It now seems insane that anyone could have thought that the fall of a tiny, impoverished nation in Southeast Asia could materially affect U.S. interests, but that is what happens when perfectly intelligent people are pushed by domestic political considerations into taking a militant posture.

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.