Newscom
President Obama’s jarring choice of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice to be the Administration’s new National Security Adviser showcases the President’s willingness to ride off a foreign policy cliff hand in hand with his ideological soul mate.
In choosing Rice, the President fired a political shot across the bow of congressional critics who can do nothing to stop the appointment, as Rice’s new job does not require Senate consent. In addition, by rewarding a loyal ally with a plum post, Obama has endangered the national security of the United States. The idea of placing someone with so little credibility into such an important job would be impossible to believe if it hadn’t actually already happened.
So why did he make the appointment at all? Precisely because he and Rice share the same worldview. Despite myriad evidence that the Obama Doctrine of leading from behind has failed miserably, the President has decided to simply ignore the facts and continue along, purposefully ignoring the world around him, made less secure by a foreign policy of appeasement and compromise.
The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano summarized the impact of the Rice pick on the Administration’s policy in a recent commentary:
[Obama’s] doctrine has failed on every front. The Russian relationship is underwater. Libya is a disaster—ditto Iraq. The Taliban is just waiting for NATO to leave. Al Qaeda is back in the game. China claims sovereignty over any island where anyone has dug up a shard of Ming pottery. North Korea is as petulant as ever. Iran is more, not less, aggressive. If foreign policy were a report card, the White House ought to be ashamed to admit it belongs to them.
In appointing Susan Rice as national-security adviser, the president signaled that he has no plans for a course correction in foreign policy. America is going to get more of the same. Rice fits comfortably in the president’s proud tower.
The failure of the past four years of American foreign policy does not fit neatly into the President’s narrative of his own Administration, nor his worldview. As such, he has simply decided to pretend reality weren’t so. Picking Rice to be National Security Adviser speaks volumes about the President’s assuredness of his own foreign policy against all evidence to the contrary. Obama is doubling down on failure; therefore, it appears it is the American people who have been dealt a lousy hand.