Obama’s Soft Power

On Monday in Chicago, President-elect Obama rolled out his national security team. They include the following:

• Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former First Lady, vanquished foe in Obama’s primary victory and current senator of New York for Secretary of State.

• General James Jones, the former NATO commander for National Security Advisor.

• Secretary Robert Gates, the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the current and future Secretary of Defense.

Time will tell if these are respectable selections and I will wait to judge these nominations until Obama assembles his entire team.

I will say, however, that I’m already fairly nervous about this bunch and the reason is two small words.

“Soft Power”

Soft Power is an approach to foreign policy that emphasizes cultural and ideological factors when exerting one’s influence around the globe.

This is a diametric opposition to “Hard Power” which seeks the use of military and economic factors when influencing abroad.

All three of Obama’s newly introduced national security team support the Soft Power approach to foreign policy.

Now you may ask, “Why does this make you nervous? Isn’t this a pragmatic and thoughtful approach to foreign policy?”

My answer to that is, yes, it is a pragmatic and thoughtful approach to foreign policy and that is precisely what makes me nervous about it.

The problem with this approach is that it relies upon a vital assumption about our foreign counterparts…that they are rational, sound and reasonable people that are open to negotiating and willing to be flexible.

Let’s take a look at the primary sources of foreign policy issues around the word and see if anything jumps out at us.

Iran
Iran is a major sponsor of terror throughout the Middle East and has consistently tried to undermine the U.S.’s actions in Iraq by supplying the Iraqi insurgency with men, supplies and weapons. Its leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is devout anti-Semite that, on numerous occasions, denied the existence of the Holocaust, called the state of Israel a “stinking corpse”, vowed to liquidate Israel and expressed his goal for a world without America. They have ignored United Nations mandates about their nuclear program and, by many accounts, are working feverishly to develop an atomic bomb.

Al-Qaeda
Not that I need to remind all of you about this, but just for a refresher, they are the main supplier of worldwide, Islamo-Fascist terrorism. They masterminded and executed the 9/11 attacks, U.S.S. Cole bombing, the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the 1995 Riyadh bombings, the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 and bombings in Istanbul, Madrid and London. They have also joined former Baathists to fight American and international forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their goal is a total annihilation of anything or anyone that does not subscribe to their radical, Islamic beliefs.

Russia
Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency is a sham as he is merely a puppet of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. They violated international law in August by invading Georgia, have increased anti-American rhetoric in recent months, have shown aggressive military actions in the Western Hemisphere with strengthened relations with Cuba and Venezuela and are regarded as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Afghanistan
The resurgent Taliban are currently erasing gains made by coalition forces since 2001 and are a real threat to return to power. The Taliban is the governmental body that provided funding, safety and supplies to Al-Qaeda as they planned and prepared for the 9/11 attacks, did not allow women to read, become educated or work, repressed outside cultural influences from entering Afghanistan, massacred its own citizens and produce most of the world's poppy used to make drugs like heroin and opium.

North Korea
Ignored U.S. and United Nations orders to cease its nuclear weapons program and conducted its first nuclear test in 2006. After initially agreeing to stop its weapons program, the North Korean government, led by Chairman Kim Jong-il, began to renege on these promises.

Anything jump out at you?

If not, let me sum it up for you…

These organizations and countries are not run by rational, sound and reasonable people that are open to negotiating and willing to be flexible!

These people do not understand diplomacy or negotiations, they only understand force, whether it’s economic or military.

Listen, I don’t want the U.S. to go around and be a bully to everyone in the world. I wish and hope that all of our foreign policy issues can be worked out over a discussion and understanding of both sides.

However, I also don’t want us to be taken advantage of or compromised due to a weak approach to foreign policy.

In the cases that I outlined above, I cannot see any scenario in which Soft Power will work.

What will Obama, Clinton, Gates and Jones say that hasn’t already been said?

Are they simply hoping that nobody has ever asked Iran to stop its nuclear program, Al-Qaeda to stop killing non-Islamo-Fascists, Russia to not be so militaristic, Taliban to not protect international terrorist organizations and North Korea to not go back on their pledges regarding their nuclear weapons program?

I know that nearly 67 million Americans were enraptured by Obama’s calls for change, unity and hope, so let’s just hope Ahmadinejad, Bin Laden, Medvedev, Putin, the Taliban and Jong-il are as well.

Forgive me if I’m skeptical.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John