Obama's "Mr Nice Guy" foreign policy persona isn't working, says Der Spiegel in a much-referenced editorial. His recent trip to Asia, the German newspaper says, produced "no palpable results," raising the question: Is it time for the President to take a "tougher stance" on overseas allies, channeling George W.Bush instead of Jimmy Carter?
Yes, drop the polite approach: Obama put his money on "playing nice" in China, says foreign policy expert Elizabeth C. Economy in the Washington Post. The result was "one of the worst U.S. presidential visits to Beijing in memory." Instead of sucking up to the Chinese, the President should "stack the deck" with our "allies" and team up against them. Being nice to China didn't get us anywhere, and "it never has."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Shake the foreign policy team?"
Get out of the spotlight: The "grand strategy" of Obama's foreign policy seems to be impressing "cheering crowds composed of non-Americans", says Christopher Badeaux in the New Ledger. We won't see any progress on "ending nuclear proliferation" or reforming the "international economic system" until this administration's foreign policy becomes centered on America and not Obama himself.
"Obama's foreign policy: shakedown 1979"
Like it or not, Obama is the new Jimmy Carter: Obama wants to be the new Reagan on foreign policy, says David Rothkopf on NPR.com. Instead he is more "commonly associated" with Carter. "Failed policies" in Iraq, "intractable problems" in Afghanistan, and now this latest trip to China indicate that the "balance of power" is "shifting." Although it could fairly be said that Obama's biggest similarity to the "grim little man from Plains" is sharing "really bad timing," it's hard not to feel that he "will not be able to reverse these trends."
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A fireman's ladder, a race through the desert, and more
-
NASA discovered 26 microbes in their cleanroomsUnder the radar The bacteria could contaminate space
-
The elite falcon trade in the Middle EastUnder the Radar Popularity of the birds of prey has been ‘soaring’ despite doubts over the legality of sourcing and concerns for animal welfare
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Millions turn out for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ ralliesSpeed Read An estimated 7 million people participated, 2 million more than at the first ‘No Kings’ protest in June
-
Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardonTalking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidentsThe Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
-
'Seriously, not literally': how should the world take Donald Trump?Today's big question White House rhetoric and reality look likely to become increasingly blurred
