Sunday, October 19, 2014

Foreign Policy takes Center Stage in US - Zalman Shoval



by Zalman Shoval


Less than three weeks before the midterm elections in the United States, the war against the Islamic State group has become one of the most significant issues in the campaign, which is in the Republicans' favor.

This is an ironic turn of events, as not long ago various political pundits and pollsters hedged that foreign policy, especially concerning the Middle East, would have little impact on the midterm elections. On the contrary, they said, the current congressional race is devoid of any ideological characteristics, and the voters are likely to make their decision based on their attitude towards U.S. President Barack Obama.

The fact that the president plays such a key role in the voters' considerations is also surprising, as midterm elections are usually decided according to local interests, rather than any wider, national interest. This time, however, the congressional race is likely to reflect the voters' confidence -- or lack thereof -- in Obama's performance.

The latter is also reflected in the American public's view of the economic situation in the U.S., where the administration has marked some positive accomplishments, including a significant drop in unemployment. While this should have helped the Democrats' prospects in the midterm elections, recent polls have found the majority of Americans do not credit Obama with this improvement. 

Two years ago, the Obama administration declared its intent to shift the focus of its foreign policy from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. This included pulling all American troops from Iraq and removing nearly all American troops from Afghanistan, as well as reducing the war on terror. 

But then, as if to mock the administration's new policies, things blew up in Obama's face: Syria plunged into a bloody civil war; U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was killed in an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi; Egypt underwent a political change the U.S. failed to understand; and various al-Qaida offshoots broke free, giving birth to the formidable threat now known as Islamic State. 

The gruesome footage of Islamic State terrorists beheading hostages, including American ones, as well as the other horrific acts the group has perpetrated, shifted the needle of the political barometer in the U.S. from overall opposition to any American involvement in the Middle East, to growing -- albeit limited -- support in such involvement. 

Obama too, had come to the conclusion that the United States can no longer stand idly by, and ordered an aerial campaign against Islamic State targets, hoping military action would redeem his faltering leadership in the public's eye; but the American public's support of his decision has yet to translate into an improvement in the president's or the Democratic Party's approval ratings.

The fact that several former Washington officials recently published memoirs leveling harsh criticism at what they called the Obama administration's foreign and Mideast policy failures, did little to help the situation. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, for example, said Obama had "lost his way," while former State Department official Vali Nasr slammed the president as "shallow, politically driven and uninterested in real diplomacy." Similar descriptions appeared in the memoirs of other former administration officials. 

The Republicans traditionally enjoy the American public's trust when it comes to matters of national security -- even if said trust is not always justified -- so there is little wonder why Republican candidates have been trying to milk the new and timely jihadist threat for all it is worth.

We were not the ones to point out the president's faults -- his own advisors have done so, the Republicans' campaign states. Obama, it says, is confused and does not grasp the gravity of the threat Islamic terrorism poses.

The results of November's midterm elections may not directly shape the U.S.'s foreign policy for the remainder of Obama's term in office, but they will have some impact on it, including on issues concerning Israel. 

While Obama's unprecedented security collaboration with Israel is commendable, another possible result of the midterm election is that the chaotic realities of the Middle East, and the U.S.'s concern that Islamist terrorism will reach its soil, might reflect positively on Israel's importance as a strategic ally to Washington.


Zalman Shoval

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=10269

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

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