Obama’s Missing Foreign Policy Substance

Last night President Obama ran through a checklist of foreign policy issues during the State of the Union address. Today, the White House is hosting a “virtual ‘Big Block of Cheese Day,’” in homage to President Andrew Jackson opening the White House doors to share cheese with the public. The Obama Administration will answer questions on social media regarding a variety of its policies. Here are some questions that deserve more than the cursory, cheesy answers that are sure to come:

• Benghazi: When the U.S. Ambassador to Libya was assassinated in Benghazi, and terrorists murdered three other Americans, President Obama vowed “to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.” Since it was not mentioned in the State of the Union last night, please provide an update on your efforts to achieve justice for Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

• Guantanamo: A key part of President Obama’s address last night was how he planned to ignore Congress as the American people’s representatives and govern by executive fiat. An example of this is when, as one of his first acts in office, he ignored Congress and ordered Guantanamo to be closed by January 2010 in Executive Order 13,492. It has now been five years since he issued that Executive Order, and 155 detainees remain there today. Last night, he came back to Congress to take steps to ensure the closure of Guantanamo, without mentioning that his Executive Order failed. Nor did he mention a detainee transferred from Guantanamo was involved in the Benghazi terrorist attack. So which is it: Is President Obama going to take responsibility for closing Guantanamo, or will he blame Congress for his own failings?

• Al Qaeda: On numerous occasions during the 2012 campaign, President Obama claimed “al Qaeda has been decimated” and that al Qaeda operatives were “scrambling.” Last night during the State of the Union address, however, he said the terrorist “danger remains,” and that “al Qaeda affiliates and other extremists [are taking] root in different parts of the world.” So which is it: Is al Qaeda decimated, or is it laying down roots in different parts of the world?

• Afghanistan/Iraq: In the State of the Union address, President Obama bragged that “all our troops are out of Iraq” and that the war in Afghanistan “will finally be over” by the end of this year. Al Qaeda in Iraq is currently reconquering towns America spent much blood and treasure to secure prior to President Obama’s withdrawal from there, and the United Nations Special Representative for Iraq recently confirmed that violence continues to escalate there—it was the deadliest year in Iraq since 2008. Will the war in Afghanistan be over the same way it is over in Iraq, with President Obama’s abandonment to al Qaeda?

• Syria: Last night in the State of the Union address, President Obama said of Syria: “we’ll support the opposition there.” President Obama called on President Assad to “step aside” more than two years ago. Secretary of State John Kerry recently spoke of how more than 130,000 people have been slaughtered on President Obama’s watch in Syria, while the Administration is attending talking sessions in Switzerland with the Assad regime. How exactly are we supporting the Syrian opposition?

• Iran: To his credit, President Obama did devote substantial attention to one foreign policy matter in his State of the Union Address: his diplomacy with Iran. Unfortunately, for all of his calls for Congress to work together, he reserved his one, single veto threat for an Iran sanctions bill that enjoys bipartisan support in Congress. President Obama claimed that if Iran does not “seize this opportunity, then [he would] be the first to call for more sanctions.” That is exactly what the Iran sanctions bill does. It provides new sanctions authority, but holds that authority in abeyance until the expiration of the interim deal, thereby giving Iran a chance to seize this diplomatic opportunity and providing consequences if it does not. Why did President Obama threaten to veto a bill with bipartisan support carrying out his own policy position? 

• Iran: The Joint Action Plan on Iran’s nuclear program seems to accept an Iranian uranium enrichment program in perpetuity. Can President Obama commit that any final agreement with Iran will not allow Iran to maintain an enrichment capability or plutonium reprocessing technology?

• Nuclear Weapons: An Obama Administration deputy assistant Secretary of State recently pointed out the empirical fact that “our overall nuclear stockpile is 85 percent below Cold War levels.” Why does President Obama continue to refer to our “Cold War stockpiles” like he did last night in the State of the Union Address, when it is clearly an inaccurate comparison?

• Trade: To his credit, President Obama called upon Congress “to work together on tools like bipartisan trade promotion authority.” When will the President actually expend political capital to convince his base that international trade is good for American jobs and to stop blocking trade promotion authority and international trade agreements?

President Obama promised the world would look at us differently under his presidency. In answering these questions, maybe the Obama Administration can explain his foreign policy shortcomings that were left unaddressed in the State of the Union speech last night.