Top Stories of the Year: #2 At the end of last year, I concluded that foreign policy in 2012 had been "less a story about what is happening than a story about what is not happening—and what is not going to happen." Barack Obama is committed, on principle, to being a spectator rather than an actor on the world stage. And perhaps more to the point, there's not much we can do about it. The president has very wide authority over foreign policy. Congress can prevent him from doing certain things, but the one thing it can't prevent him from doing is nothing. If he doesn't choose to act, Congress has no real means to force him.
All the Wrong Allies
All the Wrong Allies
All the Wrong Allies
Top Stories of the Year: #2 At the end of last year, I concluded that foreign policy in 2012 had been "less a story about what is happening than a story about what is not happening—and what is not going to happen." Barack Obama is committed, on principle, to being a spectator rather than an actor on the world stage. And perhaps more to the point, there's not much we can do about it. The president has very wide authority over foreign policy. Congress can prevent him from doing certain things, but the one thing it can't prevent him from doing is nothing. If he doesn't choose to act, Congress has no real means to force him.