Obama's third term — or Bill Clinton's? By Elliott Abrams

[mystery-ak]

Obama's third term — or Bill Clinton's?
By Elliott Abrams, opinion contributor — 02/14/21 10:00 AM EST

Will the Biden administration be Obama’s third term — a “do-over” — when it comes to foreign policy? It’s crystal clear that the personnel are largely the same, at least when it comes to foreign policy. As Jackson Diehl in The Washington Post put it just before the inauguration, “If personnel is policy, a full-on revival of Obamaism might seem likely. Secretary of state nominee Antony Blinken and deputy Wendy Sherman; national security adviser nominee Jake Sullivan and deputy Jon Finer; director of national intelligence nominee Avril D. Haines and CIA director-designate William J. Burns were all senior officials under Obama, while defense secretary nominee Lloyd J. Austin III headed the Pentagon’s Middle East command. Almost every other top official so far nominated for State and Defense Department roles is an Obama veteran.”

And yet, some observers have suggested that things may be a bit different. Ambassador Daniel Fried, a long-time State Department official, noted that “The center of gravity of this team is a shade more pro-European and more pro-democratic values.” Fried added that “They are also sobered and even a little burned by experience in the Middle East.” The argument that “U.S. ‘engagement’ with adversarial regimes could diminish their hostility and even cause them to liberalize internally…” was tried by the Obama administration in Iran, and in Burma and Cuba as well, Diehl noted, but “the results were pretty dismal.” At his confirmation hearing, Blinken agreed with the tough Trump stance on Venezuela and the use of the word “genocide” for Chinese conduct in Xinjiang, and noted that Obama policy on China did not work: “There was a broad consensus that economic liberalization in China would lead to political liberalization — that did not happen,” he said.

What is the lesson from these examples? Many analysts see a group of former Obama officials who will be tougher this time around because they’ve learned; they were “mugged by reality.”

more
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/538768-obamas-third-term-or-bill-clintons

[Right_in_Virginia]

Obama's third term — or Bill Clinton's?

Neither.  It's George Soros's.