The Obama Doctrine

President Obama occupies a special place in American history.  He symbolizes the dawn of a new historical epoch in the relationship between the New World and Africa, which supplied the slave labor to build that world. The president obviously understands his place in history.  However, he has not done anything substantive to symbolize that understanding.  I think a single pronouncement will take care of that.

President Obama should invite members of the African Union to Washington D.C and declare an Obama doctrine, to define the American contribution to fostering democracy, good governance and peace in Africa, from this point.

The Obama Doctrine should say that the United States will refuse to grant official recognition to any junta or government in Africa that is not produced and based on an internationally recognized vote of the citizens.

Liberals and the Arab Spring--From African Internet Forums

• -"Obama had no good choices concerning the Arab spring. He hasn't? Then, why upset the apple cart? Why uncork the bottle? Liberal ideology has some anti-American tint to it. Do you understand that? For Liberals, it is always America's fault first. In Obama's mind, conservatives had imposed despots on the Arab people. He did not know that there was a reason for that. He uncorked the bottle. Gaddafi and Mubarak are gone..."---Zubbie Ekwueme
  
  "For the liberals, it is always America's fault first." What is the evidence for that? The foreign policies of President Truman, Kennedy, Carter and Clinton? Note that it was the Truman administration that committed the United States to its Cold War doctrine of doing everything possible, to defend democracy and self government in the world community. President Kennedy almost took the U.S. into a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, over that country's placement of missiles in Cuba. The Carter doctrine committed the United States to resorting to force, to defend its interests in the Persian Gulf. Under President Clinton, the United States sent troops into Somalia.
  
  President Obama neither caused nor led the Arab Spring. It was fashioned by the Arab streets. There was also no liberal/conservative divide regarding U.S. foreign policy in relations with the Arab world. The Arab Spring was inevitable, because people will sooner or later realize that self-determination, with all of its difficulties, actualizes human dignity and progress in ways that despotic political arrangements cannot.
  
  The digital revolution and the opening up of the entire world to instantaneous communication has made it impossible, to keep populations locked away in tyrannical enclaves. That is the simple explanation of the Arab Spring. Gaddafi and Mubarak and similar regimes could not expect to rule in perpetuity, especially in the digitally connected world. How quickly will such regimes crumble? That is the question, not whether they will crumble.
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    Shawn Williams Spot on. One of the clearest distinctions between "conservative" and "liberal" approaches to American Foreign Policy is an estimation of American power. Conservatives overestimate our power, overestimate our ability to alter personal beliefs around the world. To Obama's credit, he appreciates that the events in the Arab world are an historical wave that America must ride, and which we can only influence at the margins.

    15 minutes ago · Like
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