In the comments thread to James’s post about the recent Israeli offensive against Hamas in Gaza, a commenter wondered if that were the crisis that VP-Elect Joe Biden warned about. No, it isn’t.
Foreign policy has a way of overwhelming most American presidencies. Our constitution is written that way and Barack Obama’s presidency is very unlikely to escape from foreign policy however pressing domestic matters may be. We have fifty governors, 435 Congressional representatives, and 100 senators but only one president who’s tasked with the responsibility of being both Commander-in-Chief and Diplomat-in-Chief. Domestic policy is likely to be left to the tender mercies of Congress, the governors, and our state legislatures.
Whatever his preferences might be, whatever the circumstances at hand might be, and whatever the preferences of the governors and members of Congress might be the president will be stuck with foreign policy and it will occupy a great deal of his time.
Indeed, President Obama would be extraordinarily fortunate if he only had one world crisis to deal with during his first term. It’s far more likely that he’ll have a dozen and neither he, nor his advisors, nor we can imagine what they’re likely to be.
