Keep Calm And Carry The Liberal Order On Analysis

Critique
On the September/October 2015 edition of the magazine Foreign Affairs, two articles were published regarding President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. On article, “What Obama Gets Right, Keep Calm and Carry the Liberal Order On” by Gideon Rose, the author explains the success of the Obama administration at maintaining and expanding the international liberal order. On the other hand, in the second article “What Obama Gets Wrong, No Retreat, No Surrender” by Bret Stephens, the author argues that President Obama has reduced the scope of U.S foreign policy by staying in the sidelines of conflict. This essay will evaluate both pieces to determine which one of these two has made the most compelling argument regarding President Obama’s Foreign

In this article, Gideon Rose begins with a word of caution about harshly judging the president’s track record based on a “few lonely moments of crisis.” The writer then proceeds to discuss the history of U.S foreign policy after World War II, explaining how at the core of American foreign policy was to “consolidate, protect and extend the liberal international order.” Then, the author briefly examines the progress the former presidents such as George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton made in advancing the liberal international order. After the recount of these administration, Rose then describes the George W. Bush’s administration, discussing the post 9/11 intervention in the Middle East, and the financial collapse of 2007, which he describes “bequeathed to his successor a divided country an economic catastrophe, and two ongoing wars, one of them heading in the wrong direction.” After this, finally, Rose explains the Obama administration’s success at maintaining the liberal international order. He states, “From Syria to Ukraine, Yemen to Iran, the Obama administration has been determined to avoid getting sucked into yet another quagmire…the president’s national security tools of choice have been drones, sanctions, and negotiations.” Rose briefly reviews Obama’s failures, citing examples such as the infamous “redline” in Syria and the intervention in

The author utilizes cryptic baseball analogies such as “Having inherited two wars and a global economic crisis from George W. Bush administration – the foreign policy equivalent of runners on base with no outs – Obama has extricated the country from some old problems, avoided getting trapped in some new ones, and made some solid pickups on the sides.” These statements makes it seems as though Obama’s only foreign achievement has been to pick up the broken pieces of the previous administration. This is unfortunate, as later on the article, the author presents instances, such as the TTP and the Iranian Nuclear Deal, in which the Obama administration has proven to be innovative in its foreign