I have waited many years for a good foreign policy speech by the president…..yesterday he made a speech at West Point…….I listened then read….and you know what?  I am still waiting for that good speech.

The essence of what he said was a man trying desperately to appease both sides of the war issue….the hawks and the doves………

President Obama will ask Congress to create a $5 billion fund to help allied governments fight terrorism, and ramp up aid to Syria’s rebels, he announced today, in a wide-ranging commencement speech on foreign policy. Obama spoke to West Point’s graduating class, but the speech emphasized an approach to the world lighter on military might. The military “always will be the backbone” of US leadership, he said, according to CNN, but it “cannot be the only—or primary—component of our leadership.”

Obama touted a multilateral approach that he said had produced progress in Iran and helped swiftly isolate Russia following its Ukraine invasion. “This is American leadership. This is American strength.” He said the US should fund countries that provide UN peacekeepers to help combat extremists around the world. “It’s a smart investment. It’s the right way to lead.” He said there was “no military option” that would help Syria, but said propping up moderate rebels would help combat both the Assad regime and extremists. And while he affirmed that the US would continue to launch drone strikes and other unilateral attacks when necessary, he promised restraint and transparency. “Our actions must meet a simple test, we must not create more enemies than we take off the battlefield.”

No where in that speech was it a good speech…….a typical tap dance between factions……the day before he made his speech I read a critique before the fact…..

President Obama is planning another Wednesday foreign policy speech defending his policy as just the right amount of hawkishness, a stance he has been reiterating for months now.

Obama has presented his position as a minimalist one, focusing on criticism from even more hawkish members of Congress as the alternative, without addressing the idea of less wars.

Details on the new speech don’t look like that’s gonig t oreally change, though some aides were presenting the Obama policy as a “middle course” that avoids isolationism, and maintains America’s “leadership” in global intervention.

Deputy NSA Ben Rhodes says Obama will make the “case for interventionism but not overreach,” and that he will argue the US is the “ultimate guarantor of an international order” by opposing both Russia and China.

Would someone explain to him that drones are basically a bullet……it is difficult for me to take anything serious that e mentioned in his newest speech…….

And then came the three mouth-keteers…….McCain, Graham and Ayotte……they did not like his speech, but then they were not suppose to, it will give them more exposure if they say stuff like……..

“The President’s decision to set an arbitrary date for the full withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is a monumental mistake and a triumph of politics over strategy. This is a short-sighted decision that will make it harder to end the war in Afghanistan responsibly.

“The President came into office wanting to end the wars he inherited. But wars do not end just because politicians say so. The President appears to have learned nothing from the damage done by his previous withdrawal announcements in Afghanistan and his disastrous decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq. Today’s announcement will embolden our enemies and discourage our partners in Afghanistan and the region. And regardless of anything the President says tomorrow at West Point, his decision on Afghanistan will fuel the growing perception worldwide that America is unreliable, distracted, and unwilling to lead.

“The alternative was not war without end. It was a limited assistance mission to help the Afghan Security Forces preserve momentum on the battlefield and create conditions for a negotiated end to the conflict. The achievement of this goal, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, should be determined by conditions on the ground, not by the President’s concern for his legacy.

“All wars end. The question is how they end. The war in Iraq has ended in tragedy. And it is difficult to see how we can succeed in Afghanistan when the President tells our enemies that our troops will leave by a date certain whether they have achieved our goals or not.”

I understand Graham’s man crush on McCain but is Ayotte’s excuse….is she a hawk in training…..maybe she has been tapped to replace McCain when he decides that he must leave the Senate….any way…these two are too damn predictable…..if it is foreign policy and Obama they will oppose it!I

I keep waiting for that magical foreign policy speech…..so far all I have is that waiting time wasted.  One day we will find a person that has a good grasp on what is what in the international arena…….all I can do for now is wait and listen.