Victor Davis Hanson explains for National Review Online readers that America’s enemies might try to take advantage of President Obama’s last year in office.
Over the last seven years, the world has become acclimatized to the lead-from-behind role of the United States. Under Obama, friends and enemies bet that America was conflicted about the wisdom and morality of the entire American-led postwar global enterprise and reacted accordingly.
But — who knows? — the next American president might identify radical Islam as the catalyst for terrorism directed at the West.
Cuba in 2017 might no longer be seen as a newfound friend but as an old-time violator of human rights.
Next year, will the Islamic State still be seen as a “jayvee” organization, or as an existential danger to the U.S. homeland?
In all of these cases, uncertainty rather than assured continuity in present U.S. foreign policy is likely — largely because the stubborn and tone-deaf Obama administration has lost the support of the American public on almost all of its foreign-policy initiatives, from signing the Iran pact, to dealing with terrorism, to handling China and Russia.
Unfortunately, the predictable corrections under a new president in 2017 will make 2016 more dangerous than any year since 1980.
