US President Barack Obama kicked off his second term on Monday with a call for a “peaceful” solution for crises across the world.
US President Barack Obama kicked off his second term on Monday with a call for a “peaceful” solution for crises across the world.
Obama was publicly sworn in for another four White House years before a flag-waving crowd of an estimated one million, and then delivered an inaugural address.
In his speech the US leader focused on the internal issues in his country, like immigration, gun control and other economic affairs.
Expressing his view for the US’ foreign policy, Obama dedicated only one brief paragraph for this issue.
Though his speech was watched across the globe, Obama sketched over foreign policy, disdaining "perpetual war" and promising diplomatic engagement backed with military steel -- without dwelling on specific crises like Syria and Iran’s nuclear program.
“We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully — not because we are naive about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.”
Commenting on Obama’s “peaceful” view, The Washington Post said: “This is the substantive point, because it seems to be a thinly veiled reference to U.S. policy on Iran. The Obama administration has clearly favored a diplomatic approach to ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions, though with the option of a last-resort military strike. His nomination of former senator Chuck Hagel, a skeptic of military strikes on Iran and strong proponent of diplomacy first, was seen as a continuation of this approach. The fact that Obama included this in his inaugural address, however subtly, suggests that he may reattempt diplomatic outreach to Tehran.”
Also in his speech over the US’ foreign policy Obama said that the US would remain the “anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crises abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation.”
In its Tuesday’s edition, the Washington post considered this as “not revolutionary”, saying it “telegraphs that Obama will continue to emphasize international cooperation in solving major problems, for example as he did in supporting a United Nations-backed intervention in Libya. The bit about being “the anchor of strong alliances” is a nod to the strategy of asserting global leadership through diplomacy, for example in Europe, and to balancing against other states, most notably China, by allying with its neighbors. This, in other words, is the line about Obama’s much-vaunted “pivot to Asia.”
“We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice — not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice, ” the US president added in his speech.
In this context, the daily considered that Obama, through his “peaceful” speech was keeping the “world at the bay.”
“It’s always easy to read too much into presidential addresses. But it’s hard to miss the degree to which Obama appeared to skip over such foreign policy challenges as the Arab Spring’s transformation of the Middle East, particularly with regards to the still-raging civil war in Syria,” The Washington Post added.
On still ongoing Afghan war, Obama only said, “A decade of war is now ending.”
