and he hasn’t been inaugurated yet. While events spiral out of control globally PEBO selectively chooses which subjects to address. Others, he gives us the “one president at a time” speel.
Considering this is business as usual PEBO style, America is in trouble. Can we afford a president who will address certain issues while ignoring others, i.e., refusing to speak on them?
Democrat Defers to Bush on Foreign Policy but Not on Economy
When it comes to repairing the faltering U.S. economy, Barack Obama offers vision, numbers and detail. But as Israeli bombs and Palestinian rockets explode in the Middle East, the president-elect has responded with silence.
With 20 days until he takes office, Obama is likely to encounter a region reshaped by new violence once he becomes commander in chief. But he has refused to engage in diplomatic conversation before then, insisting that to do so would undermine President Bush. “President-elect Obama is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time,” said Brooke Anderson, Obama’s national security spokeswoman.
But while the “one president” philosophy has kept Obama mum on emerging foreign policy crises since the Nov. 4 election, he has abandoned it when it comes to the economy, talking at great length and in great detail about his plans for the nation’s financial recovery.
Obama — and the usually loquacious Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. — are deferential to Bush on international affairs. Meanwhile, they have all but taken over from the current White House occupant the job of designing an economic rescue, declaring weeks ago that “work starts today.”
The difference offers a glimpse into Obama’s careful governing style, in which the 44th president and his team weigh the risks of action against the political advantages of doing or saying nothing.
“It seems clear he’s just cherry-picking those things that serve his purpose and staying as far away from Middle East troubles as he can,” said G. Calvin MacKenzie, a professor of government at Colby College in Maine. “Come January 21, he’s going to have to deal with some of these issues. But politically, there’s no good news there. There’s no benefit in him getting involved with that sooner than he has to.”
Aides say the president-elect’s silence on foreign policy follows a long-held principle that reserves such issues to the president. Offering a competing voice could have immediate consequences for U.S. policy.
“President-elect Obama believes it is important to adhere to the constitutional principle that there is only one president at a time, and it is extremely important in the arena of foreign policy that it is clear who is speaking on behalf of the United States,” incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
As a candidate, Obama said he would rebuild the nation’s reputation and promised to end the Iraq war while shifting resources to Afghanistan. But the economic collapse has dramatically refocused his agenda, especially for the first few months of his administration.
In the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, two-thirds of Americans highlighted economic issues as the top priority for Obama and the next Congress. Fewer than 1 percent cited a “foreign policy” concern as their primary issue. Nine percent singled out the war in Iraq as the top problem they want the next administration to tackle, a big drop from the issue’s prominence before the primaries.
