Obama’s West Point Speech: A Real Pivot from War?

May 30, 2014


This week, President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. There, he laid out his vision for a foreign policy strategy that would adapt to a changing global landscape.

Obama is now taking steps to implement his vision for a smarter approach to global affairs. In seeing his vision become a reality, Obama called upon Congress to “support a new Counter Terrorism Partnerships Fund of up to $5 billion.” This fund essentially creates partnerships with countries around the world to train, build capacity and ensure America’s interests by fighting terrorism as partners. Partnerships are critical to creating long-lasting national security stability. Military responses cannot and should not be long-term solutions to any conflict. With the Partnerships Fund, our nation’s influence will be greater with the buy-in of our partners.

What the Partnership Fund will actually look like remains unknown. While the Fund, in essence, sounds like a great idea, much is left up to our imagination to fill in the blanks. What exactly does it mean to provide “resources [that] will give us flexibility to fulfill different missions, including training security forces in Yemen who’ve gone on the offensive against al-Qaida, supporting a multinational force to keep the peace in Somalia, working with European allies to train a functioning security force and border patrol in Libya and facilitating French operations in Mali?”

Obama highlighted current global occurrences involving the US, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ever-changing situation in Ukraine. He stressed that we must shift the paradigm which we currently hold to deal with foreign policy issues. The unilateral use of force seems to be the most popular tool in the foreign policy toolbox. Drawing on the disastrous lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama pointed out more effective ways in dealing with today’s conflicts.

For example, though some hawks have continued to push for a military response to the continued nuclear enrichment program in Iran, Obama instead chose a combination of diplomacy and sanctions in order to create a “very real chance of achieving a breakthrough agreement – one that is more effective and durable than what would be achieved through the use of force.”

Choosing to use soft power does not preclude the use of force. It is simply another tool – an often overlooked tool—that is now more effective in today’s global community. In fact, the ongoing situation in Ukraine exemplified that approach. Immediately following the invasion of Crimea by Russian forces, the US with our allies, shaped world opinion and isolated Russia right away. Rather than getting entangled in another military engagement, Obama wisely chose to mobilize other resources to expose Russia’s aggression for what it was: outdated Cold War tactics which is not viable in today’s world.

In a direct manner, Obama clearly stated, “just because [we] have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.” Again, learning from past lessons, Obama seems to be well aware that acting unilaterally may lead to a drain in resources, loss of credibility and further, the immense human toll war takes on a nation.

We cannot face current global challenges alone. Obama’s outline for our foreign policy must be more than rhetoric; it must be the paradigm shift we seek. Obama’s promise, unlike former President George W. Bush, cannot be another speech without inaction. Our soft power approach to foreign policy has proven to be effective, and in order to ensure we maintain and utilize this tool we must inject more resources to empower our diplomatic corps and realize a less militarized way of responding to situations around the world.

Military force has not always been a successful response when dealing with crises. We don’t need to flip back too far in America’s history book to realize that using the stick in conflicts like Vietnam or Iraq was the wrong choice. We cannot afford to look like the international bully; rather we must flex our leadership skills in proving to the world we can face issues using our brains before brawns. The American people are not craving another address given by a great orator; we need to know that speech is coupled with transparency and action. The President’s vision must be coupled with details, lest that vision becomes foggy. 




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