On the May 29 edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box, Richard Engel, NBC’s chief foreign correspondent, conceded that he could not name a single nation where relations have improved with the United States since President Obama took office six years ago. Engel generally stays above the political fray, so this admission about the president’s foreign policy is revealing.
Responding to further questioning by Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, Engel asserted that the reason why relations with foreign nations haven’t improved is due to the fact that “our allies have become confused.”
Engel went on to elaborate on a very common argument against this president’s foreign policy; that, oftentimes, it lacks purpose and seems aimless:
You now have a president who is pulling out very rapidly. And that is creating a kind of pump action, a vortex of instability that has left allies like Saudi Arabia, like Egypt, like even some European countries very confused. Are we going in? Are we pulling out? Are we leading? Are we trying to set the agenda? There has been a lot of frustration.
In 2009, Engel was quick to note how receptive the Muslim world was to Obama’s speech in Cairo. Now, it seems the reporter has done a 180, recognizing not simply that the president’s foreign policy has largely failed to ingratiate America with the Islamic world, but that the Middle East in now in a state of chaos:
Right now we have a black hole in Syria. Iraq is in a state of collapse. Libya is about to go back into a civil war. And this was the one case where we intervened militarily. So I think there is a lot of problems on the horizon in the foreign policy world just because you are off-ramping in Afghanistan.
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There’s no confusion; the U.S. is now an unreliable ally. We now have the reputation that we will abandon an ally on a whim. Even when we get an adult at the helm that can rebuild the trust, it is now a risk that every 4 years, regardless of commitments, our allies could be left high and dry to face rising international threats such as Russia. So, we see nations, friends and foe alike, through in with those who are more powerful and reliable (our enemies).
I disagree, Obama’s foreign policy is clear, purposeful and in following with Obama’s Dreams of My Father, ie. to diminish the importance and standing of the United States in the world.