25 October 2013
Obama Deals With Complicated Partners
Perhaps it’s foolhardy, but President Obama has leapt at chances to resolve long-standing problems when they have occurred in the course of doing business. Although the regime of Syria’s Bashar Al Assad used chemical weapons on civilians in the face of his “red line,” Obama jumped to accept collaboration with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin and invite the Syrians to destroy their chemicals arsenal as the price for avoiding a retaliatory American bombing.
Contrary to Daniel Henninger’s Opinion essay, “Obama’s Credibility is Melting,” in the October 24, 2013 WSJ, where he characterized Obama as joining with cynical and untrustworthy partners in Moscow and Damascus, the President views his number one job to be addressing long-term goals, even over humanitarian obligations like punishing murder with chemical weapons. Collaboration with the Russians and stability in the Middle East drive his strategy in Syria, not pleasing the Saudis.
Likewise, sanctions seem to have helped modulate the attitude of the Iranian government and bring that regime to the nuclear arms negotiating table. Keeping the pressure on at this point could only risk hardening the “tribal” behavior of the ruling mullahs, mirroring the desires of neighboring Arab monarchies identified by Karen Elliott House in the October 25, 2013 WSJ, “Behind the Saudi-U.S. Breakup.”
When it comes to the badly named Affordable Care Act, Obama’s advisers unfortunately were seduced into believing that a technical device like a website was all that was needed to escape decades of resistance to the imperative of universal health care. The designers of www.healthcare.gov were certainly not cynics; they made a mistake that only makes Obamacare harder to execute in the end.
Perhaps it’s foolhardy, but President Obama has leapt at chances to resolve long-standing problems when they have occurred in the course of doing business. Although the regime of Syria’s Bashar Al Assad used chemical weapons on civilians in the face of his “red line,” Obama jumped to accept collaboration with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin and invite the Syrians to destroy their chemicals arsenal as the price for avoiding a retaliatory American bombing.
Contrary to Daniel Henninger’s Opinion essay, “Obama’s Credibility is Melting,” in the October 24, 2013 WSJ, where he characterized Obama as joining with cynical and untrustworthy partners in Moscow and Damascus, the President views his number one job to be addressing long-term goals, even over humanitarian obligations like punishing murder with chemical weapons. Collaboration with the Russians and stability in the Middle East drive his strategy in Syria, not pleasing the Saudis.
Likewise, sanctions seem to have helped modulate the attitude of the Iranian government and bring that regime to the nuclear arms negotiating table. Keeping the pressure on at this point could only risk hardening the “tribal” behavior of the ruling mullahs, mirroring the desires of neighboring Arab monarchies identified by Karen Elliott House in the October 25, 2013 WSJ, “Behind the Saudi-U.S. Breakup.”
When it comes to the badly named Affordable Care Act, Obama’s advisers unfortunately were seduced into believing that a technical device like a website was all that was needed to escape decades of resistance to the imperative of universal health care. The designers of www.healthcare.gov were certainly not cynics; they made a mistake that only makes Obamacare harder to execute in the end.
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