Obama Wants Allies to Share the Burden. It Won't Happen.

Obama Wants Allies to Share the Burden. It Won't Happen.

05/30/14

Christopher A. Preble

International Institutions, NATO, Defense, Europe, Asia, United States

America's friends won't take more responsibility for their own defense if we don't make them.

In his West Point speech this week, President Obama vowed to encourage America’s allies to shoulder more of the burden in dealing with international problems and providing for their own defense. Unfortunately, this is far-fetched unless Obama acts to reduce America’s global military commitments.

Obama’s speech will not satisfy the harshest critics of his foreign policy, but, in fairness, no speech was likely to do that. If the critics were expecting him to, for example, recant his opposition to sending U.S. troops into the middle of brutal civil wars, they were sure to be disappointed.

But a dramatic change in U.S. foreign policy dedicated to the use of force to advance U.S. interests was unlikely because there are real constraints on the United States’ ability to use force. And Barack Obama must fashion a policy within those constraints.

The speech revealed the limits of U.S. military power. Indeed, in a line sure to enrage Iraq war proponents, Obama explained, “some of our most costly mistakes came not from our restraint, but from our willingness to rush into military adventures—without thinking through the consequences...or leveling with the American people about the sacrifice required.”

While the speech won’t appeal to those anxious for the U.S. military to become engaged in a range of new conflicts, however, it may be equally disappointing to a public hungry for a different foreign policy that keeps us out of reckless wars.

Even if President Obama were inclined to send the U.S. military on more missions around the world, he knows that the American people are not so inclined. He learned that the hard way after he drew an ill-advised red line before Syria’s Bashar Assad, and then was forced into a humiliating retreat when the public rose up in opposition.

The president intends to avoid a repeat of that particular debacle, as he made clear in his speech, by calling on other countries to step forward. He pledged to “coordinate with our friends and allies in Europe and the Arab world...and make sure that those countries, and not just the United States, are contributing their fair share of support to the Syrian people.”

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