Bringing the Public to the Table This Thanksgiving
Two years ago this week, on this blog, I wrote the following about politicians who thank men and women in uniform “for their service” without doing anything to improve their lot:
After six years of war, we must pay more than lip service to our gratitude. We must act to ease the burden on our armed forces, and to give strategic vision and moral depth to our national security policy.
It has now been eight years of war in Afghanistan and approaching seven in Iraq. We have a new President, a new Congress, new military commanders on the ground, and a new set of relationships on the world stage. Yet I am concerned that Americans have seen too little progress on the foreign policy challenges that matter most.
The Obama Administration, less than a year into its tenure, has reached a national security tipping point. Despite swift and significant troop reductions in Iraq (coupled with a handover of security duties to Iraqis), invitations to Iran and North Korea to sit down at the negotiating table, and an ongoing policy review on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the new Administration has won few admirers for its national security program. One obvious reason is the lack of clear, immediate payoffs. Other than “resetting” the US public image in European capitals, it is not clear that Obama’s changed approach has delivered any concrete benefits appreciable to average Americans, or to our elected leaders on either side.
There are plenty of good reasons to give Team Obama more time to deliver the goods. After all, delicate negotiations and strategic planning involving regions as complex as the Middle East and South Asia take a long time. But I’d like to suggest another approach, one which might give the Administration the political breathing room it needs on national security, while beginning to satisfy millions of Americans who have felt for years that the policymaking process in Washington is detached from reality, on a local and a global scale.
My prescription for this Thanksgiving week foreign policy review is simple: Communicate with the American people. While foreign policy and national security are traditionally the realm of experts, in this age of globalization, not a single American worker is immune to global economic forces, tens of millions of Americans have cross-border family ties, and millions of families have borne the costs of military service and sacrifice abroad. We know that public perceptions matter and that the outcome of foreign wars can hinge more on attitudes at home than on decisions in the field. It is ironic, then, that President Obama, whose campaign was so effective at tapping into and leveraging the emotions of countless voters and volunteers, has appeared to make foreign policy and national security decisions in Bush-like isolation.
So what do Americans want? According to the latest Pew survey, Americans expect two big things they don’t seem to be getting from the Obama Administration on national security and foreign policy: (1) Clear evidence that American troop commitments in Afghanistan will result in victory, and will benefit American national security, and (2) a plan for preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Simply put, Americans are willing to support the President on foreign policy, but they need a lot more confidence about where he’s going, and how he’ll get there. The Administration’s ivory tower approach to major decisions on Afghanistan and Iran has not reassured those surveyed on either front.
While I am sure foreign policy decisions should not be based on poll numbers alone, matters of such great importance to all Americans deserve to be made much more accessible to all Americans. Doing so is one of the President’s main responsibilities, and one of the reasons that great communicators like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton succeeded in the face of complex foreign policy challenges. Although Obama has given four major foreign policy addresses (in Cairo, Moscow, New York, and Tokyo) all four have been intended more for an international audience than for domestic consumption. The buzz in Washington is that announcements on Afghanistan and Iran are in the offing, but there is a difference between announcing a policy and explaining it.
Perhaps this Thanksgiving Day, the President can take some time to talk with the American people about the challenges we face, like he did on the campaign trail. Another opportunity is his State of the Union address in January. At any time during this season of giving thanks, one way the President can show his appreciation for the contributions and sacrifices of average Americans is by explaining his views, sharing his decisions, and opening a dialogue with the people who elected him.
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