In early December, President Obama described his role as a “north star out there” for Americans – a distant guide that keeps us moving towards a goal. He was defending his tax and benefit compromise with Republican leaders, explaining that compromise was in the country’s DNA and that there was value in moving in generally the right direction.
But is Obama – or anyone in the last two decades – a “north star” for American foreign policy? Keep in mind that when I say “north star”, I’m talking about the core, uniquely American values that guide our leaders, no matter which party they come from.
Furthermore, the “north star” is not to be confused with the “Kennan Prize” of American diplomacy, named for renowned diplomat George Kennan upon coining the guiding term “containment” for America’s strategic approach to the Soviet Union. No one since the legendary Kennan has distilled an overarching American strategy into such a perfectly appropriate, yet bumper-sticker length slogan.
At foreign policy conference after foreign policy conference, academics compete for the next iteration of mythical award, which is all shined up to be ceremoniously bestowed in columns and blog posts upon the author the next great foreign policy framework.
With the “north star” concept, I’m looking more broadly. Kennan won his prize for a specific strategy vis-a-vis a specific enemy. I’m asking for America’s guiding foreign policy values to be articulated. Not tactics or strategies, but values. And not liberal, progressive, or conservative ones, but American values.
I suppose the void exists because world events since the end of the Cold War have been scatter shot. Consider major American foreign policy events since 1991:
— Disintegration of the Soviet Union
— Bill Clinton’s “Peace Dividend”
— September 11th
— Afghanistan
— The Global War on Terror (run a muck)
— Iraq
— Diffusion of power to individual actors
— Iran and North Korea struggling to get the bomb
— Lack of progress in Israeli/Palestinian peace
— The rise of democratic world powers (Brazil, India)
— … and autocratic ones (China)
It’s hardly a cohesive group, hardly lending itself to a coherent “north star.” In retrospect, it’s really tough to argue that the Iraq war comes from the same value set as a strategy to resolve the Israel/Palestinian divide. But as America emerges from its pressing, all-consuming commitments (Iraq, Afghanistan), the Obama administration will have time to breathe, reassess, and think about America’s guiding north star in foreign policy.
Lacking one is a big concern to us here at PPI, and you’ll be hearing more from us on it in the near future.
