How An Inexperienced President-Elect Obama Might Navigate Foreign Affairs

It’s my habit first thing every morning to scan major online news sources before posting here. Until recently I had a lineup of liberal op-ed columnists in the mainstream media that I read regularly, mainly at the Washington Post, New York Times, and the Boston Globe. That was before the 2008 presidential campaign when the scales were removed from my eyes, and I realized that in the American media “liberal” does not include equal rights for women. Forget equal rights: as the media would have it, women don’t even deserve to be treated with common decency.

Over at the Washington Post, where the Rev. Susan Thistlethwaite misused her office as president of the Chicago Seminary (United Church of Christ) to write an On Faith piece that used a Bible story to demonize Hillary Clinton, I skipped over the names of once favorite writers like Eugene Robinson and E.J. Dionne to finally settle on today’s column by David Ignatius.

(By the way, Rev. Thistlethwaite was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, and she was eager to join forces with Rev. Wright and Father Pfleger in trashing Sen. Clinton.)

Ignatius, who writes regularly for the Post on global politics, economics, and international affairs avoids the euphoric hype of many of his colleagues who have covered the inexperienced Obama’s meteoric rise to the presidency in 2008.

In today’s column, Ignatius gives us a glimpse of how Obama might shape foreign policy in his administration. Keep in mind that Obama’s only experience in this area was his road trip abroad last summer to meet foreign leaders for the first time.

Ignatius portrays the untested Obama as at least having the smarts to consult with old hands in the foreign affairs field. But then Dubya, equally inexperienced in foreign affairs, surrounded himself with advisors, and we all know how well that went.

Ignatius writes:

“As he builds his team, Obama wants to spend time listening to experts who can advise him on policies. The former law professor is being characteristically deliberative. He doesn't want to make up his mind until he's heard from all sides. That consensus-seeking style is likely to be a trademark of his administration.

‘“For national security adviser, Obama is likely to pick a pragmatist. ‘He wants to find out what works -- what advances U.S. national interests. . . . If secret diplomacy is required to achieve your objectives, he would certainly accept that,’ says Gregory B. Craig, a Washington lawyer who's on the shortlist for a top position.

‘“During the transition, Obama won't meddle in the Bush administration's decisions -- and he won't allow other governments to end-run Bush. ‘He's not going to do anything that gives the idea they don't have to negotiate with this administration,’ says the adviser. This insistence on ‘one president at a time’ is especially important in the deadlocked negotiations with Iraq over a new status-of-forces agreement. Several Obama aides caution that the Iraqis shouldn't drag their feet and hope for a better deal.”’

To read more, go here.