2008: The Same Old National Security Politics

Writing for RealClearPolitics, Gregory Scoblete laments Barack Obama’s inability and apparent unwillingness to bring a new perspective to national security politics that could have helped his party shed the “weak on security” stigma that has stuck in the consciousness of voters for several presidential election cycles.

One of Scoblete’s explanations for Obama’s failure on this subject is that U.S. public opinion is declining for many of the soft power initiatives that were foundational to Obama’s early vision that Scoblete argues has been compromised as the campaign has advanced:

“on many soft-power issues vital to redefining the political landscape, Obama is simply swimming against the tide of public opinion. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found declining support for measures such as stopping genocide, strengthening the United Nations and promoting human rights – initiatives that were not terribly popular to begin with. As Senator Biden hinted at during his debate, the government’s multi-billion dollar bail-out of Wall Street will effectively doom increases in foreign aid.”

Georgetown’s Daniel Brumberg argues that Obama ought to focus on getting America’s own democratic house in order before he can hope to effectively promote political reform overseas.