Obama faces contentious meetings with European and Gulf state leaders during his trip this week to Europe and Saudi Arabia. Why? Because of his continuing refusal to adopt a serious strategy to defeat ISIS, confront Iran’s increasingly belligerent behavior, and his inexplicable comments published in an April 2016 Atlantic article that blamed Europe and Gulf states for his administration’s growing list of foreign policy failures.
The Atlantic article will lead to some awkward questions for Mr. Obama from the leaders of America’s closest allies.
For example, the president will undoubtably be asked by European and Gulf state leaders to explain how, after his administration ignored the growing crisis in Libya for the past four years and his 2011 “leading from behind” strategy during the Libyan civil war, he can criticize European and Gulf states of being “free riders” and not having “skin in the game” in the Libyan situation.
I imagine British Prime Minister Cameron will say to the president, “But Mr. Obama, France and the United Kingdom took the lead in fighting that war because you refused to.”
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President Obama’s trip will not further damage America’s relations with European and Gulf states because they know he is a lame duck and expect the next president will be a stronger leader who will adopt a tougher and more sensible foreign policy, especially if a Republican wins the White House this fall.
The problem with this trip is that it will telegraph American weakness and divisions between the U.S. and its allies to our enemies who may try to exploit this weakness before the end of the Obama presidency. Any perception of American weakness endangers global security.
Mr. President, you should have stayed home.
http://nation.foxnews.com/2016/04/20/mr-obama-you-should-have-stayed-home-your-saudi-trip-signals-weakness
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