# President Obama's Foreign Policy **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 1, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231 "2011-10-01T04:42:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231/1 "2011-10-01T04:42:16Z")
Overall, in the last two and a half years how would you grade President Obama’s foreign policy? While I strongly disagree with him on many economic issues, I must admit he has been a fairly successful president in foreign policy. He has slain much of the Al-Qaeda leadership, launched the brilliant surge strategy (which worked so well in Iraq) in Afghanistan, approved drone strikes and “assassinations” despite criticism, intervened in Libya toppling a brutal dictator, but I think his willingness to ignore the whinings of Pakistan in the elimination of Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership is particularly laudable. I wonder if President Bush or a President McCain could have done it. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231/2 "2011-10-01T05:01:15Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Overall, in the last two and a half years how would you grade President Obama’s foreign policy? > > While I strongly disagree with him on many economic issues, I must admit he has been a fairly successful president in foreign policy. He has slain much of the Al-Qaeda leadership, launched the brilliant surge strategy (which worked so well in Iraq) in Afghanistan, approved drone strikes and “assassinations” despite criticism, intervened in Libya toppling a brutal dictator, but I think his willingness to ignore the whinings of Pakistan in the elimination of Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership is particularly laudable. I wonder if President Bush or a President McCain could have done it. You preferred Bush’s economic policies? You just love wars don’t you? Iraq and Afghanistan are blunders that should have been aborted long ago. I do not applaud Obama staying in either place . He should have closed Gitmo too. But Obama has garnered a lot more respect from European countries than our Connecticut Cowboy earned. I doubt he gets much credit for the :Arab spring". But if you like that stuff, he surely encouraged it and participated in Libya. No the assassinations are not America’s finest hour. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231/3 "2011-10-01T05:48:29Z")
Foreign policy decisions should not be conducted in two or four year increments. Unfortunately, that’s kind of how it goes around here. I think that Obama, like men before him, waits to see which way the wind is blowing and takes it from there. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231/4 "2011-10-01T13:58:34Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > You preferred Bush’s economic policies? No, he too had a tendency to think deficit spending unimportant but he did cut taxes and support free trade and tried to get Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae under control. > [@](#): > > You just love wars don’t you? Iraq and Afghanistan are blunders that should have been aborted long ago. I do not applaud Obama staying in either place . He should have closed Gitmo too. With hindsight I don’t think we should have gone into Iraq either but Afghanistan was and is totally justified. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231/5 "2011-10-01T14:11:38Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > No, he too had a tendency to think deficit spending unimportant but he did cut taxes and support free trade and tried to get Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae under control. Judging by the results, cutting taxes is bad for the economy. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231/6 "2011-10-01T15:52:23Z")
He seems to have handled the Libya situation just right. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231/7 "2011-10-01T15:54:00Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Overall, in the last two and a half years how would you grade President Obama’s foreign policy? > > While I strongly disagree with him on many economic issues, I must admit he has been a fairly successful president in foreign policy. He has slain much of the Al-Qaeda leadership, launched the brilliant surge strategy (which worked so well in Iraq) in Afghanistan, approved drone strikes and “assassinations” despite criticism, intervened in Libya toppling a brutal dictator, but I think his willingness to ignore the whinings of Pakistan in the elimination of Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership is particularly laudable. I wonder if President Bush or a President McCain could have done it. Apparently, you believe Foreign policy is kicking Brownies butts. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obamas-foreign-policy/598231/8 "2011-10-01T19:16:06Z")
> [@](#): > > No, he too had a tendency to think deficit spending unimportant but he did cut taxes Cutting taxes _is_ deficit spending.