2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: On what issue is Hillary better than Bernie? [View all]Sancho
(9,069 posts)He's in an adversarial relationship with Putin, Netanyahu, etc.
TPP is a mess (Australia just pulled out), China is stealing the kitchen sink, the mid-east is no better. No currency agreements in sight.
The Cuba issue and Mexican boarder issue got responses from Obama, but too little and too slow for the most part. Really hurt the Democrats in 2014. He is just now getting around to the international hacking problem.
I think a lot of these and other problems stem from Obama's lack of experience and personal relationships with international leadership. The examples are numerous. Obama has been focused on what he knew best, domestic policies (like health care). He has been drawn into a "reactive" international policy, but resisted any serious, creative efforts (like Jimmy Carter did for example).
If Obama had taken a bunch of trips (like he went to Africa recently) BEFORE becoming President, he would have been much more effective. Obama gets a "C" grade from me for international efforts.
In fact, if it wasn't for Hillary, Kerry, and others, international relations would have been much worse. Other officials had limited, but positive effects trying to put out the fires and change policy from the bottom up. Both Hillary and Kerry have face-to-face respect of most international leaders, even when they disagree with US policy.