Obama’s realist framing masked a continuation of Bush-era imperial warfare
Evidence
Obama claimed that his policy was a shift to the realist tradition of great power geopolitics. As he put it, “The truth is that my foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional bipartisan realistic policy of George Bush’s father, of John F. Kennedy, and in some ways of Ronald Reagan.” Yet, as we saw above, during Bush’s second term the neoconservatives were also gravitating toward this position because of the failure of their approach in Afghanistan and Iraq. Soon after taking office, Obama deployed 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, expanded the war into Pakistan (through the “Af-Pak” strategy), tried to pressure Iraq into granting an extension of the US occupation (which failed), carried out drone attacks and “black ops” in Yemen and Somalia, and participated in the NATO war on a former ally in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 501
Obama claimed that his policy was a shift to the realist tradition of great power geopolitics. As he put it, “The truth is that my foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional bipartisan realistic policy of George Bush’s father, of John F. Kennedy, and in some ways of Ronald Reagan.” Yet, as we saw above, during Bush’s second term the neoconservatives were also gravitating toward this position because of the failure of their approach in Afghanistan and Iraq. Soon after taking office, Obama deployed 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, expanded the war into Pakistan (through the “Af-Pak” strategy), tried to pressure Iraq into granting an extension of the US occupation (which failed), carried out drone attacks and “black ops” in Yemen and Somalia, and participated in the NATO war on a former ally in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi. This should not come as a surprise, since his inaugural staff included Bush personnel like defense secretary Bob Gates and General Petraeus, as well as Democratic Party hawks like Hillary Clinton and Joseph Biden. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 513
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the book’s prior chapters on the Bush-era ‘war on terror’ continuity theme; also echoes general literature on imperial continuity across US presidential administrations. — connects to: The Bush-to-Obama transition was rhetorical, not structural — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 527; Obama’s realist framing masked continued military expansion across many fronts; Obama’s multilateral realism was a continuity of Bush-era imperial strategy — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 501 (+15 more)
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 501; Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 513
Broader Connections
- Obama’s realist framing masked continued military expansion across many fronts
#corroborates(0.95) - Obama’s multilateral realism was a continuity of Bush-era imperial strategy
#corroborates(0.93) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 501 - Obama legitimized and expanded the war on terror, not reversed it
#corroborates(0.92) - Obama continued and expanded Bush’s imperial wars despite softer rhetoric
#corroborates(0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 579 - Bush to Obama was a rhetorical shift masking unchanged imperial fundamentals.
#corroborates(0.90) - Obama’s liberal-rhetoric foreign policy continued Bush-era imperial military operations.
#corroborates(0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 513 - Obama’s election rebranded rather than ended American imperial policy
#corroborates(0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 495 - The Obama presidency was framed as an ending that concealed an unfinished lie
#corroborates(0.85) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 113 - Obama’s presidency mutated and advanced rather than ended the war on terror
#corroborates(0.82) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 329 - Obama’s conciliatory rhetoric masked continued drone and surveillance warfare
#corroborates(0.82) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 299 - Obama continued the War on Terror with rhetoric rather than swords
#corroborates(0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 296 - Homegrown terrorism panic let Obama continue Bush-era war policies
#corroborates(0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 499 - Failed counterinsurgency forced Obama back to counterterrorism and drone warfare
#qualifies(0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 432