US President Barack Obama barely mentioned foreign policy in his 65-minute State of the Union address on Tuesday and dealt with the Asian-Pacific region in less than a sentence.
He said the US should “continue to focus” on the Asia-Pacific, but offered no new policies or plans, or even a comment on the state of play of his much-heralded “rebalancing” to the region.
The annual speech, delivered before both houses of the US Congress, is generally considered to be one of the best opportunities for the White House to explain its priorities for the year ahead to the US public.
In a briefing of the foreign press given a few hours before the speech, American University history professor Allan Lichtman said that foreign policy would definitely take a backseat to domestic policy at a time of economic and employment problems at home.
“Truth is, Americans don’t give a darn about foreign policy,” he said.
He correctly predicted that the “pivot to Asia” would not be mentioned.
“I think the pivot to Asia is real — Obama knows how important relations with China and Japan, and other parts of Asia are,” Lichtman said.
The president was unlikely to discuss Asia, he said, “but you shouldn’t read anything into that.”
Obama did briefly talk about problems with Iran and its nuclear program, and he spent a minute or two on Syria, Israel and Afghanistan. However, he put forward no new foreign policy ideas.
The Brookings Institution released a memo it sent to the president last week (when the speech was being prepared) in which academics, including former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Richard Bush, recommended that the White House announce the launch of a concerted diplomatic effort to mitigate the risks of conflict between Asian powers in the South China Sea and East China Sea. It also recommended that Obama “personally engage” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to emphasize there would be “serious consequences” if China pursued its interests through military means.
A group of foreign policy experts who have formed an organization called “Foreign Policy Initiative” released a list of five issues they hoped Obama would address in his State of the Union speech.
They said it was “essential” that Obama make clear to China that the US would stand firm with its Asian allies and partners “in the face of Beijing’s bullying.”
A Wall Street Journal — NBC News poll issued just before the speech showed that the nation was “increasingly worried” about Obama’s abilities, dissatisfied with the economy and fearful for the country’s future.
“Since the rise of modern polling in the 1930s, only George W. Bush has begun his sixth year in the White House on rockier ground than Mr Obama,” the Wall Street Journal said.
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