Regardless of the arguments put forward by other pundits, TIME’s Michael Crowley disputes the notion that President Obama’s foreign policy is based on any unified doctrine.
Back when Barack Obama was a Senator, he had high expectations for a new kind of U.S. foreign policy. The “United States still lacks a coherent national security policy,” Obama wrote in his 2006 book The Audacity of Hope. “Instead of guiding principles, we have what appear to be a series of ad hoc decisions… Without a well-articulated strategy that the public supports and the world understands,” he wrote, American actions lack “legitimacy” at home and abroad. …
… Obama’s recent actions have at times seemed to reflect the kind of ad hoc decisions he complained about in 2006. He has vocally denounced crackdowns on protesters in some countries (Libya, Egypt) but been quieter about others (Bahrain, Yemen). He was initially hesitant to intervene in Libya — then acted with surprising force.
