Another President Without A Strategy
My guess is that he appreciates the repercussions of acting – and of not acting – more acutely than do his advisers, and hence is understandably a great deal more cautious than they are in deciding what to do, and when to do it. This may seem like an abrogation of leadership. But, as Roosevelt’s “policy” in the summer of 1941 reminds us, true leadership means calibrating action with what public opinion and political elites will support. It also means, however, working – behind the scenes if necessary – to see whether and to what degree elite and public opinion is malleable. Unfortunately for Obama’s leadership options, Roosevelt’s experience suggests that it often takes outside events of a dramatic nature to move both. In their absence, Obama’s policy toward IS will likely be viewed as excessively cautious by some, unduly aggressive by others – and ineffective by both.
Dickinson also notes how much easier it is for a Cabinet Secretary to advocate war than a President. The President is responsible to the American public, and right now, we don’t want a war.
Click here for reuse options!Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Stuart Shapiro
Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.
40 responses to Another President Without A Strategy
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Carla Akins September 2nd, 2014 at 17:40
I don’t have a strategy either, but I really need one.
edmeyer_able September 2nd, 2014 at 17:46
Neither did ronnie in ’83 but he won a 2nd term in a landslide so…….
tiredoftea September 2nd, 2014 at 18:53
Yeah, but he had Nancy and her cadre of astrologers. He didn’t need no stinkin’ strategy.
fahvel September 3rd, 2014 at 03:10
hey, wait a second! ronnie slaughtered the opposition in Grenada.
Carla Akins September 2nd, 2014 at 17:40
I don’t have a strategy either, but I really need one.
edmeyer_able September 2nd, 2014 at 17:46
Neither did ronnie in ’83 but he won a 2nd term in a landslide so…….
tiredoftea September 2nd, 2014 at 18:53
Yeah, but he had Nancy and her cadre of astrologers. He didn’t need no stinkin’ strategy.
fahvel September 3rd, 2014 at 03:10
hey, wait a second! ronnie slaughtered the opposition in Grenada.
tiredoftea September 2nd, 2014 at 17:45
In the meanwhile, FDR instituted the Lend/Lease Act that was responsible for supplying the Allies, including Russia and China, in their fight against Germany. So, he had a strategy that was supportive of the war and anticipated the need for a war time economy before the U.S. joined the war in Dec. 1941.
tiredoftea September 2nd, 2014 at 17:45
In the meanwhile, FDR instituted the Lend/Lease Act that was responsible for supplying the Allies, including Russia and China, in their fight against Germany. So, he had a strategy that was supportive of the war and anticipated the need for a war time economy before the U.S. joined the war in Dec. 1941.
OldLefty September 2nd, 2014 at 18:02
Know what they said about Eisenhower??
A Democratic Advisory Council committee headed by Acheson called Eisenhower’s foreign policy ‘weak, vacillating, and tardy.’
“The future of Asia may well be at stake”
[his policies] “could fatally weaken the Western alliance.”
He is “misinformed” or “consciously misleading the nation” about the
“flaccid” U.S. shortfall
His generals had been “hoodwinked by the bureaucracy.”
“Behold the Eisenhower doll’ , went a joke at the time: “Wind it up and it does nothing for eight years.”
I think that the difference is that the public didn’t hear it 24/7.
tiredoftea September 2nd, 2014 at 18:26
There was only one John Birch Society at the time and McCarthy was finally silenced, too.
OldLefty September 2nd, 2014 at 20:02
There was only one John Birch Society at the time and McCarthy was finally silenced, too.
__________
now they are called the Tea Party.
tiredoftea September 2nd, 2014 at 20:31
And, there’s more of them when you add in the white militia’s, sovereigns and various religious right groups. Oh, for the days of only one JBS!
OldLefty September 2nd, 2014 at 18:02
Know what they said about Eisenhower??
A Democratic Advisory Council committee headed by Acheson called Eisenhower’s foreign policy ‘weak, vacillating, and tardy.’
“The future of Asia may well be at stake”
[his policies] “could fatally weaken the Western alliance.”
He is “misinformed” or “consciously misleading the nation” about the
“flaccid” U.S. shortfall
His generals had been “hoodwinked by the bureaucracy.”
“Behold the Eisenhower doll’ , went a joke at the time: “Wind it up and it does nothing for eight years.”
I think that the difference is that the public didn’t hear it 24/7.
tiredoftea September 2nd, 2014 at 18:26
There was only one John Birch Society at the time and McCarthy was finally silenced, too.
OldLefty September 2nd, 2014 at 20:02
There was only one John Birch Society at the time and McCarthy was finally silenced, too.
__________
now they are called the Tea Party.
tiredoftea September 2nd, 2014 at 20:31
And, there’s more of them when you add in the white militia’s, sovereigns and various religious right groups. Oh, for the days of only one JBS!
Red Eye Robot September 2nd, 2014 at 18:58
Shorter Stuart Shapiro: Obama is a genius because he did nothing and has no plan just like Roosevelt. (and the left eats it up, cheering Yay O! BA! MA! O! BA! MA! O! BA! MA! O! BA! MA! O! BA! MA! )
The problem is Roosevelt started planing for a war with Japan in 39. Aiding the Chinese,, the Japanese oil embargo, Moving the pacific fleet to Hawaii in 1940. In 39 the US army navy &marines had 335,000 men in uniform. by pearl harbor attack we had 1,800,000. we were expanding the US arsenal. Comparatively, Obama who was being warned in his daily briefings over a year ago about ISIS has done exactly Zero to prepare.. and by Obama’s own admission “we have no strategy” We did pull all of the troops out of Iraq by 2012.I’m sure ISIS appreciated that.
Roctuna September 2nd, 2014 at 19:22
Your whole post is predicated on the idea that IS is a threat to the US. It clearly is a threat to individual Americans, but the US, no way. Have you looked at a map lately to see what these maniacs actually control? A lot of nothing. Obama’s strategy was to NOT arm them in Syria, which is what John McCain wanted to do. Even though muslim fundies act like it’s the 9th century, the rest of the world knows it isn’t. Do you actually believe they pose an existential threat to anyone besides muslim fundies of opposing factions? Besides, ask that warlord in Somalia about Obama’s strategies. Oh wait, you can’t cuz he’s dead! Ditto OBL.
jasperjava September 2nd, 2014 at 19:59
Shorter Red Eye Robot: I hate the Black man on the White House.
William September 2nd, 2014 at 22:20
Hey cupcake. Should we give your latest load of BS the same weight as your tale of government Humvees with belt fed machine guns on the roof at the Bundy ranch?
jasperjava September 3rd, 2014 at 02:23
“Obama who was being warned in his daily briefings over a year ago about ISIS has done exactly Zero to prepare.”
As if the President is going to publicly announce his plans to the whole world, for the enemy to hear.
I think Obama knows that the real enemy of the United States are the bloodthirsty racist right-wing warmongers like Red Eye Robot. More damage has been done to the United States in the last dozen years by the Republican Party than by all the Islamic terrorists in the world combined.
fahvel September 3rd, 2014 at 03:07
nice bunch of stats saying nothing – fdr reacted to two fronts which were actual threats to the usa – please of bleary eyed one, how is isis threatening the us other than slowing down the flow of oil?
Snarky Daemon O'Mockery September 3rd, 2014 at 03:52
Hail Eris!
And why, pray tell, should Obama bother to lift a finger against a bunch of “fundies,” who are no actual threat to the US, but only to some US business interests, and some individual US citizens? He doesn’t appear to have your hemorrhoidal problem.
Snarky
The Delta-United Ring Formation Theory states that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.
greenfloyd September 3rd, 2014 at 04:38
ya da ya da… in this case the lack of a “strategy” does not mean we don’t have a plan. It’s early going and various alliances and back-channel arrangements are just beginning to emerge. The Arab backlash to these extremists is building on both religious and political fronts. Iraqi and Kurdish military cooperation, along with a new non-sectarian government in Baghdad, with US humanitarian aid, diplomatic efforts and direct, yet limited, military involvement is working. There’s probably a lot more going on we don’t yet know about.
What does burn my britches is how all those weapons, vehicles and equipment seem to have been overlooked in 2012. Did we do anything to check on just how secure that stuff would be in the hands of the Iraqi army if attacked?
Herb Sarge Phelps September 5th, 2014 at 16:14
Your lack of history is astounding. It must make you proud to be so ignorant. I would advice you to study more military history and you will find out, some events in military campaigns were slow to come into being and some aspects not planned until after the event has started which includes D-Day.
Red Eye Robot September 2nd, 2014 at 18:58
Shorter Stuart Shapiro: Obama is a genius because he did nothing and has no plan just like Roosevelt. (and the left eats it up, cheering Yay O! BA! MA! O! BA! MA! O! BA! MA! O! BA! MA! O! BA! MA! )
The problem is Roosevelt started planing for a war with Japan in 39. Aiding the Chinese,, the Japanese oil embargo, Moving the pacific fleet to Hawaii in 1940. In 39 the US army navy &marines had 335,000 men in uniform. by pearl harbor attack we had 1,800,000. we were expanding the US arsenal. Comparatively, Obama who was being warned in his daily briefings over a year ago about ISIS has done exactly Zero to prepare.. and by Obama’s own admission “we have no strategy” We did pull all of the troops out of Iraq by 2012.I’m sure ISIS appreciated that.
Roctuna September 2nd, 2014 at 19:22
Your whole post is predicated on the idea that IS is a threat to the US. It clearly is a threat to individual Americans, but the US, no way. Have you looked at a map lately to see what these maniacs actually control? A lot of nothing. Obama’s strategy was to NOT arm them in Syria, which is what John McCain wanted to do. Even though muslim fundies act like it’s the 9th century, the rest of the world knows it isn’t. Do you actually believe they pose an existential threat to anyone besides muslim fundies of opposing factions? Besides, ask that warlord in Somalia about Obama’s strategies. Oh wait, you can’t cuz he’s dead! Ditto OBL.
jasperjava September 2nd, 2014 at 19:59
Shorter Red Eye Robot: I hate the Black man in the White House.
William September 2nd, 2014 at 22:20
Hey cupcake. Should we give your latest load of BS the same weight as your tale of government Humvees with belt fed machine guns on the roof at the Bundy ranch?
jasperjava September 3rd, 2014 at 02:23
“Obama who was being warned in his daily briefings over a year ago about ISIS has done exactly Zero to prepare.”
As if the President is going to publicly announce his plans to the whole world, for the enemy to hear.
I think Obama knows that the real enemy of the United States are the bloodthirsty racist right-wing warmongers like Red Eye Robot. More damage has been done to the United States in the last dozen years by the Republican Party than by all the Islamic terrorists in the world combined.
fahvel September 3rd, 2014 at 03:07
nice bunch of stats saying nothing – fdr reacted to two fronts which were actual threats to the usa – please of bleary eyed one, how is isis threatening the us other than slowing down the flow of oil?
Snarky Daemon O'Mockery September 3rd, 2014 at 03:52
Hail Eris!
And why, pray tell, should Obama bother to lift a finger against a bunch of “fundies,” who are no actual threat to the US, but only to some US business interests, and some individual US citizens? He doesn’t appear to have your hemorrhoidal problem.
Snarky
The Delta-United Ring Formation Theory states that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org September 3rd, 2014 at 04:38
ya da ya da… in this case the lack of a “strategy” does not mean we don’t have a plan. It’s early going and various alliances and back-channel arrangements are just beginning to emerge. The Arab backlash to these extremists is building on both religious and political fronts. Iraqi and Kurdish military cooperation, along with a new non-sectarian government in Baghdad, with US humanitarian aid, diplomatic efforts and direct, yet limited, military involvement is working. There’s probably a lot more going on we don’t yet know about.
What does burn my britches is how all those weapons, vehicles and equipment seem to have been overlooked in 2012. Did we do anything to check on just how secure that stuff would be in the hands of the Iraqi army if attacked?
Herb Sarge Phelps September 5th, 2014 at 16:14
Your lack of history is astounding. It must make you proud to be so ignorant. I would advice you to study more military history and you will find out, some events in military campaigns were slow to come into being and some aspects not planned until after the event has started which includes D-Day.
greenfloyd September 3rd, 2014 at 04:55
Not a “strategy,” but one heck of a good tactic:http://i.imgur.com/UKXeErd.jpg
starskeptic September 3rd, 2014 at 14:40
Except that this isn’t true.
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org September 3rd, 2014 at 04:55
Not a “strategy,” but one heck of a good tactic:http://i.imgur.com/UKXeErd.jpg
starskeptic September 3rd, 2014 at 14:40
Except that this isn’t true.