On the heels of a tainted Memorial Day weekend trip to Afghanistan (where the top CIA agent in Afghanistan was accidentally outed) and bad news from the inspector general's report on the VA, President Obama awoke to another tough development this morning: an editorial in the Washington Post utterly destroying his speech at the West Point graduation ceremony yesterday.
It was blistering. The worst attacks are often on someone's perceived strength, and the Post pulled no punches in pummeling Obama for using his superb rhetorical skills as a crutch and a weapon of obfuscation. The president is accused of responding to valid criticisms "not by adjusting policy but rather by delivering a big speech" — and then of marshaling "a virtual corps of straw men" (essentially setting up a false choice between isolationism and adventurism) in that "big speech."
The most fundamental rebuke is of the so-called "Obama doctrine," which the Post's editorial board clearly felt was unprecedented, somewhat arbitrary, and too restrictive (in terms of narrowly defining the criteria that could trigger future American intervention):
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.
This binding of U.S. power places Mr. Obama at odds with every U.S. president since World War II. In effect, he ruled out interventions to stop genocide or reverse aggression absent a direct threat to the U.S. homeland or a multilateral initiative. Those terms would exclude missions by previous administrations in places such as Somalia and Haiti and Mr. Obama's own proposal to strike Syria last year — but not the war in Iraq, which was a multilateral campaign. [Washington Post]
Next week, President Obama heads to Europe where he will, no doubt, attempt to hit the "reset" button. Again.
-
‘Mexico: A 500-Year History’ by Paul Gillingham and ‘When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy’ by David Margolickfeature A chronicle of Mexico’s shifts in power and how Sid Caesar shaped the early days of television
-
GOP wins tight House race in red Tennessee districtSpeed Read Republicans maintained their advantage in the House
-
Are the U.S. boat strikes a war crime?Today’s Big Question Hegseth is defiant after Venezuela reports
-
GOP wins tight House race in red Tennessee district
Speed Read Republicans maintained their advantage in the House
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
-
Hegseth blames ‘fog of war’ for potential war crimespeed read ‘I did not personally see survivors,’ Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting
-
Canada joins EU’s $170B SAFE defense fundspeed read This makes it the first non-European Union country in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative
-
Appeals court disqualifies US Attorney Alina HabbaSpeed Read The former personal attorney to President Donald Trump has been unlawfully serving as US attorney for New Jersey, the ruling says
-
White House says admiral ordered potential war crimeSpeed Read The Trump administration claims Navy Vice Adm. Frank ‘Mitch’ Bradley ordered a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat, not Pete Hegseth
-
Honduras votes amid Trump push, pardon vowspeed read President Trump said he will pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving 45 years for drug trafficking
-
Congress seeks answers in ‘kill everybody’ strike reportSpeed Read Lawmakers suggest the Trump administration’s follow-up boat strike may be a war crime
