Posted by
Tom L. on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 6:00:00 AM
“Speak softly and carry a big stick” -- Theodore Roosevelt
This seems to sum up President Obama’s foreign policy. Apparently, he believes/hopes that by speaking softly he will bring more nations together to oppose those who threaten the world. So far we have repeatedly heard him speaking softly (Cairo comes to mind), but we have yet to see any evidence that he is carrying that big stick.
Of course, all US presidents have a “big stick” at their disposal, the US military. But, having a big stick in the closet is different than carrying it. When you take it out of the closet and walk with it on your shoulder, there is at a minimum the implication that you are prepared to use the stick.
Foreign policy, like almost everything else, really comes down to personal relationships -- how the leader of one nation perceives the leader of another. Neville Chamberlain was seen as weak – Hitler attacked. Nikita Khrushchev thought JFK was young, inexperienced and weak – the Cuban missile crisis. Saddam Hussein thought George Bush was bluffing – the Iraq War.
History is littered with corpses of people who paid the price for the perception that their leader was unwilling to use the big stick. We can only pray that speaking softly will carry the day.