Ed Krayewski on Barack Obama the Isolationist
Not so splendid
Seven years of wars and unilateral action under George W. Bush had made America's foreign policy increasingly unpopular worldwide. Barack Obama's election in 2008 was seen by some as the signal of a turning point in U.S. relations with the rest of the world. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in the first year of his presidency "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The newly elected president pushed the idea of a pivot in U.S. foreign policy in lofty speeches in places like Prague and Cairo, where he claimed to "seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect." Four years later, any idea of a new beginning can be put to rest. The peace prize president, writes Ed Krayewski, has largely been a failure, having implemented a foreign policy that has been interventionist in intent and isolationist in result.