Obama Speaks On The Obama Doctrine

President Obama tells all on foreign policy with the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg. Says I did it my way, and I’m right. Goldberg joins us.

On American foreign policy, Barack Obama is a president who can truly say: “I did it my way.” The old idea of America dominating, scrapping anywhere, imposing with a big stick, has definitely not fit the vision of the 44^th president. He’s much more skeptical of all that. Critics call that feckless. Obama might call it wise and real. He sat down for hours with my guest today Jeffrey Goldberg to lay out his vision. This hour On Point, after seven years, the president speaks on how he really sees the world.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for the Atlantic. His recent piece, based on a series of interviews with President Barack Obama, is The Obama Doctrine. (@JeffreyGoldberg)

The Atlantic: The Obama Doctrine -- "I have come to believe that, in Obama’s mind, August 30, 2013, was his liberation day, the day he defied not only the foreign-policy establishment and its cruise-missile playbook, but also the demands of America’s frustrating, high-maintenance allies in the Middle East—countries, he complains privately to friends and advisers, that seek to exploit American 'muscle' for their own narrow and sectarian ends."

The Wall Street Journal: The Hole in the ‘Obama Doctrine’ — "Certainly, the Obama administration touts its major accomplishments: the agreement over Iran’s nuclear program, the climate deal reached in Paris, and the trade deal with Asian nations. But nowhere in the article does the administration articulate a clear argument for why all of these issues matter to advance U.S. national security interests and values and the greater cause of global order."

Washington Post: Five thoughts on the Obama Doctrine — "The president does not think highly of Benjamin Netanyahu, but that’s nothing compared to his opinion of Arab leaders.  Simply put, Obama does not say a single laudatory thing about any leader in the Arab world in this essay. He inherited a bunch of uneasy alliances with Sunni Arab states, but he doesn’t like it."