Changes Brought by the Obama Administration
Cody Saben
0963439
POLS 321 – AF
“Easier Said Than Done”
Researching foreign policy comparisons between George W. Bush and Barack Obama turns out to be quite the depressing venture for someone who fell in love with our current president during his first race for president. From Iraq to Afghanistan to nuclear proliferation, Obama’s 2008 campaign took every opportunity to distance his policies with those of Bush due to public displeasure and ideological differences. After seeing Obama’s first term and the various foreign policy issues he has faced, there are ways Obama has kept his promise and distance from the Bush administration, but he has also continued several key components of the “Bush Doctrine,” being unable to ‘walk his talk.’ I argue that in the case of drone usage as a form of imminent threat defense, Obama is using legal defense started by the Bush administration and continuing to arm Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’s (UAV’s) in order to wage war on terrorism. However, the current president has moved away from Bush’s reliance on unilateralism to solve world conflict, especially in Libya. I will first introduce the legality of the use of drones and how Obama has built off Bush-era arguments, and then move to Libya and highlight the current administrations push for multilateralism in a post-Bush world. In order to provide a short roadmap of the essay to follow, I’ll provide a short summary of the necessary points. First, I will discuss Obama’s continuation of Bush’s use of drones in war. The continuation is based on the legal principle Bush created which enabled this use, a principle Obama has stood behind. Second, I will detail a divergence Obama’s administration took from Bush’s policies in the form of multilateralist approaches to foreign conflict. The definition I have used for multilateralism is a campaign or intervention is a campaign or intervention with shared responsibility amongst several different parties or nations. In the case of Bush, his
0963439
POLS 321 – AF
“Easier Said Than Done”
Researching foreign policy comparisons between George W. Bush and Barack Obama turns out to be quite the depressing venture for someone who fell in love with our current president during his first race for president. From Iraq to Afghanistan to nuclear proliferation, Obama’s 2008 campaign took every opportunity to distance his policies with those of Bush due to public displeasure and ideological differences. After seeing Obama’s first term and the various foreign policy issues he has faced, there are ways Obama has kept his promise and distance from the Bush administration, but he has also continued several key components of the “Bush Doctrine,” being unable to ‘walk his talk.’ I argue that in the case of drone usage as a form of imminent threat defense, Obama is using legal defense started by the Bush administration and continuing to arm Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’s (UAV’s) in order to wage war on terrorism. However, the current president has moved away from Bush’s reliance on unilateralism to solve world conflict, especially in Libya. I will first introduce the legality of the use of drones and how Obama has built off Bush-era arguments, and then move to Libya and highlight the current administrations push for multilateralism in a post-Bush world. In order to provide a short roadmap of the essay to follow, I’ll provide a short summary of the necessary points. First, I will discuss Obama’s continuation of Bush’s use of drones in war. The continuation is based on the legal principle Bush created which enabled this use, a principle Obama has stood behind. Second, I will detail a divergence Obama’s administration took from Bush’s policies in the form of multilateralist approaches to foreign conflict. The definition I have used for multilateralism is a campaign or intervention is a campaign or intervention with shared responsibility amongst several different parties or nations. In the case of Bush, his
Cited: 1. Byers, Dylan. "Obama 's Drones, Eisenhower 's Poison." Politico. N.p., 29 Apr. 2013. Web. 2. Jackson, David. "Bush Lawyer Defends Obama on Drones." USA Today. Gannett, 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 07 May 2013. 3. "Covert War on Terror - the Datasets." The Bureau of Investigative Journalism RSS. N.p., 10 Aug. 2011. Web. 07 May 2013. 4. "Covert War on Terror - the Datasets." The Bureau of Investigative Journalism RSS. N.p., 3 Jan. 2013. Web. 07 May 2013. 5. Krauthammer, Charles. "In Defense of Obama 's Drone War." Washington Post. N.p., 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 07 May 2013. 6. Patrick, Stewart M. "Council on Foreign Relations." Council on Foreign Relations. N.p., 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 07 May 2013. 7. Lyman, John. "President Obama’s Multilateralism: Its Effectiveness and Weaknesses." International Policy Digest. N.p., 27 Mar. 2011. Web. 07 May 2013. 8. Cortright, David. "A Major Win for Obama 's Libya Policy." CNN. Cable News Network, 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 07 May 2013. 10. AP Staff. "Al-Awlaki Killed in Yemen." Washington Post. N.p., 30 Sept. 2011. Web. 6 May 2013.