The Presidency

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the nation about the situation in Syria from the East Room at the White House in Washington (REUTERS/Evan Vucci).

Opinion

President Obama’s Confused Logic on Syria

September 10, 2013, Shibley Telhami

Shibley Telhami writes that, in his speech Tuesday night, the president focused narrowly on the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons, casting them only indirectly as threats to U.S. security, and bent over backwards to assure the American people that any actions he takes will be strictly limited. Telhami looks at nine examples of contradictions in the president's speech.

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Refine by: U.S. Politics | Politics and Elections | Executive Branch | U.S. Foreign Policy

In the News

If I were the president I wouldn't go [to Moscow]. There's nothing but downside here. Obama doesn't like aimless diplomatic chitchat. One, he's not going to go to a meeting just to be humiliated; and two, he doesn't want the same dynamic as in Northern Ireland where the two of them clearly didn't have much to talk about.
July 19, 2013, Fiona Hill, Wall Street Journal
Expert Q & A | Elizabeth Ferris

The Black Swan: The Big Thaw

February 6, 2013, Elizabeth Ferris
In the News

The reality is it is not tenable simply for Republicans to stay in opposition for the whole second term of President Obama. If they are seen as the obstacle to doing anything to solve our problems, they are writing their own death certificate.
December 25, 2012, Thomas E. Mann, Voice of America
Interview | NPR's Talk the Nation

Obama's Foreign Policy, Take Two

November 29, 2012, Robert Kagan
In the News

If you are going to do something big or important, do it fast. A presidential administration is like an hourglass with the sand running out. There is a blip up with your second inauguration. You know the odds are that you are going to lose seats at the midterm election, and pretty soon you are going to look pretty lame-duckish, as even your supporters start to choose up sides over your successor.
November 23, 2012, Stephen Hess, National Journal
In the News

[Nonproliferation is] going to be very high on [Obama’s] agenda. Preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons is a critical imperative for bolstering the nonproliferation regime.
November 7, 2012, Martin S. Indyk, Reuters
Interview | CNN

For U.S. Presidential Candidates, Foreign Policy Is Domestic Policy

October 23, 2012, Robert Kagan
In the News

In the next several years the U.S. has to make some very expensive decisions about how to modernize the legs of the U.S. strategic triad [bombers, submarine and land-based missiles]. For example, replacing the Trident submarine will cost, according to the Navy, $6 to $7 billion a piece.
October 22, 2012, Steven Pifer, NBC News
In the News

Le monde de Romney, c'est le monde de Bush qui n'a pas beaucoup changé.
October 22, 2012, Justin Vaïsse, La Tribune
Interview | Al Jazeera English

Disarming the World

October 18, 2012, Steven Pifer