Obama's foreign policy spells America's decline

11 May 2010

Speakers: Bernard-Henri Levy, Mort Zuckerman, John Donvan, Dan Senor, Wesley Clark

What might Machiavelli have made of the 44th President of the United States? Barack Obama set out to change the tone of US foreign policy. And he did. By virtue of his personal story, by dint of his not being George W Bush, he arrived in the White House as both object of fascination and source of relief to a world grown accustomed to resenting the US itself. Here is a president who acknowledges that the US holds no monopoly on the legitimacy of their interests, who aspires to finding the common ground in resolving disagreements with friend and foe. His caution, his deliberativeness, his stated willingness to at least try to negotiate even with America's bitterest enemies and to cool down the rhetoric – played so well out of the gate, that they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize – after just 262 days in office.

But is love enough to lead? Or might the president need some wins along the way? For the most part, they’ve been hard to come by. None yet in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Iran’s mullah’s don’t seem to feel an urgent need to end the nuclear standoff. Seeking a new balance in America’s dealings in the Middle East, Obama asked Israel to stop building settlements, but the building goes on. And the Chinese seem to understand his less than aggressive stance in pressing for human rights as a green light to change nothing. Even when the stakes were less than life and death – his bid to bring the Olympics to Chicago – he was denied.

Not that any of this is easy. And it may be that some of these more serious challenges would by now be more difficult still if Obama had not set a new tone.

But might the opposite be true? Might America's adversaries see the president’s coolness as uncertainty and his deliberativeness as weakness? Can they exploit his affinity for common ground, by pushing to gain more ground for themselves? By acknowledging that all sides can have legitimate interests, as well as legitimate grievances, is the president yielding the high ground? Most importantly, is the US safer now that they are living in the era of president number 44?

It comes down to being respected, which is not the same as being liked. Americans have always aspired to have it both ways. Machiavelli would have us choose.

First vote: 23% For, 45% Against, 32% Don't know

Final vote: 34% For, 58% Against, and 8% Don't know

Speakers for the motion

Dan Senor

Adjunct Senior Fellow, Middle Eastern studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Mort Zuckerman

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, US News & World Report

Chair

John Donvan

Correspondent for ABC News

Speakers against the motion

Bernard-Henri Levy

Philosopher and journalist
Wesley Clark

Investment banker, author, and political commentator; former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe