I think it's very short-sighted to "grade" Pres. Obama's foreign policy objectives through such narrow lens as Syria, Iraq, Iran or Benghazi especially when Iraq/Syria, for example, exploding into failed states was out of his control. Still, there are some negatives which bare mentioning again:
- Libya. I don't think he was forward looking enough in throwing his support behind overthrowing Gaddafi. The Benghazi attack aside, ousting Gaddafi ultimately left the country in a power struggle between the defacto leader there and Islamic terror groups.
-/+ Iraq. I can't blame him for things splintering out of control in Iraq post-surge. After all, when a sovereign government led by a duly elected Prime Minister/President tells you it's time for you to go so we can run our own country, it's time for you to go! I can certainly understand how many people feel about U.S. combat troops not staying, but to be totally honest Iraq would have fell apart regardless and many of our military leaders (i.e., Gen. Peatreus) and intelligence analyst knew it. Had we stayed, insurgents would have continued to fight these small skirmishes either between Sunni and Shia groups, among themselves or against U.S./coalition forces. Moreover, they just would have waited until we left anyway to go full scale domestic terrorist. So, while I somewhat agree that we could have hastened our efforts to put many more "military advisers" in country sooner to blunt what ultimately became an ISIS build-up, there's very little we could have done to stop it once we were told to leave Iraq to be governed by the newly established Iraqi (Shia-majority) government.
-/+ Syria. I know...the red line turned out to be just tough talk, but when it comes down to it Syria never was America's problem. It first was a Syrian national problem that morphed into a U.N. problem. Only the U.N. never jumped into the fray until the Syrian refugee problem became too much for Europe and Turkey to handle alone, not to mention all the theft, rapes, local chaos, and murder committed by ISIS leaders. I still believe Pres. Obama was wrong to try and instigate things here early on, but I think he's acted appropriately to the Syrian problem since Russia and Turkey have gotten involved.
+/- Egypt. I thought he was right to support the Egyptian citizens in their effort to oust a dictator, but was wrong to support the Muslim Brotherhood. He eventually made the right call in supporting the Egyptian military who ultimately brought a sense of stability back to the country. It's just a shame the country went backwards when it didn't need to.
+/? Iran. The verdict is still out on this one. I agree with the nuclear reduction deal, but have my doubts that the Iranian military and/or religious leaders will ever stop being butt-heads and start listening their people and business leaders who really want better relations with the West/America.
+/- Israel. I do believe Pres. Obama supports Israel. I do believe BiBi is a butt-head. That said, I think when you don't live in the ME you need to listen to people who are from there and know the history behind the difficult international and territorial relationships. However, I also believe both Bibi and Pres. Obama were wrong to meddle in each nation's geo-political affairs. Regardless, Obama stands with Israel despite what the opposition thinks. His stated position on the basis of an Israeli/Palestine peace accord is no different from previous Presidents (Clinton and GWB).
Overall, I don't think he's done as bad a job as his critics characterize things. Things could have been better, but we're not hated around the world nearly as much as people may believe, WWIII hasn't broken out, trade routes are still open and most nations have seemed to rally to Obama's call to deal with ISIS and global terrorism.
Grade: B-
