President Obama's commencement address at West Point certainly was a popular topic in the media last week. I will look at the speech from a few different perspectives attempting to tie in concepts we have discussed in this course so far.
David Brooks wrote a New York Times Op-Ed on May 29 that mentioned the West Point commencement address ( http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/opinion/brooks-the-autocracy-challenge.html?ref=opinion&_r=00 ). This particular quote jumped out at me:
"For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. had a two-level foreign policy. On top, American diplomats built multilateral coalitions to extend democracy. But at the bottom level, American presidents understood their responsibility as the world’s enforcer, occasionally operating according to the logic of menace and force."
I think the quote highlights the topic of ideas versus interests. I think that the use of "multilateral coalitions to extend democracy" is based on an idea that cooperation with other states is the right thing to do. However, an American president acting according to the "logic of menace and force" is more aligned the with the classic realist perspective of interest first and foremost.
A second more critical article was written by former Marine, former assistant secretary of defense, and author, Bing West, in National Review ( http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/378980/sad-half-hearted-address-wrong-audience-bing-west ). Bing West has been an outspoken critic of US policy and strategy in Afghanistan. West reviewed the president's four main paints from the foreign policy outlined in the speech. The first point again is pure realism: "If our core interests demand it, we will use force." However, after summarizing the next three points, West delivers a scathing conclusion. I will avoid weighing in on the critique of the foreign policy articulated, but I wholeheartedly agree with West on his final comment. A long foreign policy speech at a West Point commencement ceremony was not very inspiring to these newly commissioned Army officers and latest graduates of the long, grey line.
Mike, interesting post. I am glad you brought up the commencement speech. That was something I was thinking about after we had our last live session in class. It was interesting to read all of the reaction articles online to his speech, but I though you did a nice job of highlighting some quotes that particularly highlight what we have been discussing- ideas and interests. I would agree with how you assessed that first quote- the American president acting with the realist perspective of interest and the multilateral coalitions is based on an idea. The idea of realistic interest was prevalent throughout the speech, though perhaps not the most inspiring for those new graduates.
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