The Political Insider

Barack Obama recently announced he was hitting the campaign trail for Joe Biden, and he launched his first attacks on Preisdent Trump over the COVID pandemic and foreign policy. 

On the “Pod Save America” podcast, Obama said that while he wasn’t a perfect president, “…When we had a pandemic or the threat of pandemic, we had competent people in place who could deal with it.”

Obama also accused President Donald Trump of lacking the “patience” and “focus” to reshape American foreign policy.

Both attacks could be a preview of how the former president intends to go after Trump as he hits the campaign trail with Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

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The Obama Record Vs. The Trump Record On Foreign Policy

“I mean, the truth is he doesn’t have the patience and the focus to really substantially change a lot of US foreign policy,” Obama said.

He also added that Trump has “systematically tried to decimate our entire foreign policy infrastructure.”

Obama argued that Joe Biden “has a respect and understanding for what American leadership can do” better than the current White House occupant.

What Obama said next is particularly interesting.

Obama said Biden “was probably the person who was most restrained in terms of use of military force among my senior advisers during the course of my presidency.”

“He consistently believed that we should show restraint and humility and think through the use of military power and had huge confidence and faith in the use of diplomacy as a strategy for showing American leadership,” Obama added.

Obama’s Worst Regret Was The U.S. Bombing Of Libya

Obama might be right about Biden’s supposed restraint in comparison to his other senior advisers.

But comparing who has used more restraint and engaged in more diplomacy the two presidents is telling.

When the Obama administration decided to bomb Libya in 2011, one observer said it “wrecked” that country for a “generation.”

We know Obama adviser and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton played a large role in that debacle.

Wrote The American Conservative’s Doug Bandow, “Libya’s ongoing destruction belongs to Hillary Clinton more than anyone else. It was she who pushed President Barack Obama to launch his splendid little war, backing the overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi in the name of protecting Libya’s civilians.”

“When later asked about Gaddafi’s death, she cackled and exclaimed: ‘We came, we saw, he died,” Bandow noted.

We know the vacuum created in Libya by U.S. intervention allowed ISIS to gain a foothold and expand.

Obama would later call his Libya decision the worst mistake of his presidency.

Trump Showed Restraint When Advisers Urged War In Iran

Compare this to Donald Trump calling off the U.S. bombing of Iran.

When Trump administration advisers were urging the President to bomb Iran, he set the wheels into motion and then made a major decision.

He called it off.

He ignored advisers like John Bolton and others who urged this.

It was reported that the decision shocked White House aides and was made to spare civilian lives.

Bolton was outraged Trump did not bomb Iran and even said so in his book.

It was the kind of last minute decision only a President who defies the Swamp could make – the opposite of what happened regarding Obama and Libya.

Bombing Iran a year ago could still have negative political aftershocks today if it had been followed through, similar to the aftermath of U.S. intervention in Libya.

Trump Is The First President In Decades Not To Start New Wars

In addition, President Trump has done more to get us out of the two wars – Iraq and Afghanistan – that George W. Bush started than Obama did.

And perhaps most important – President Trump is the first Commander-in-Chief not to start any new wars in decades.

That’s big.

It is hard to imagine another president holding the historic diplomatic talks – and meeting! – with North Korea, as President Trump has.

This is far preferable than any sort of military action, that would likely end terribly for both countries.

It is hard to imagine what other president would have arranged Trump’s ongoing and historic Middle East peace deals.

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If you really examine it, President Trump’s foreign policy record actually reflects more “focus” and “patience” than his critics give him credit for.

Perhaps Barack Obama should have had more “focus” and “patience.”