The Obama Doctrine

Jeffrey Goldberg

The fundamental tenet of the Obama doctrine has been to deconstruct and
delegitimize the global order built on Anglo-American political principles and to reverse the
previous course of US strategy. The world that America made rested on five pillars:
preserving a favourable balance of power in Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East;
sustaining sufficient military power to lead coalitions in each of these theatres; and, by
promoting Americans’ sense of exceptionalism and moral ambition, preserving the domestic
political will to exercise geopolitical leadership.
Nonetheless, initiatives such as the so-called pivot to Asia and the self-laceration of
America inherent in Obama’s Cairo speech will be expected to last in the future foreign
policy making. The humiliations over Syrian red lines and the Benghazi murders, which had
stained the Obama presidency require fixing by future administrations. Obama’s initiatives—
such as the refusal to help the Iranian liberals and democrats during the Arab Spring— are,
up until today, seen as weaknesses in his approach to foreign policy.