Fox New Reporter Bret Henry asked President Obama to respond to his Doctrine of Weakness as it pertains to US foreign policy. President Obama responded that his opponents only want to wage war and that the lesson of the disastrous invasion of Iraq, the only Middle East democracy, is that war is a last resort. He said that his use of diplomacy is working. Take for instance Russia, which has already annexed Crimea and threatens to fully absorb the Ukraine, he said US diplomacy is putting pressure on the Kremlin. Obama said that European nations are joining to pressure Russia and isolate them.
Supporters of President Obama were jubilant at his eloquent response as they affix great meaning to his description of “pressure bearing” on Russia. President Obama’s response would have been much more substantial had Russia been deterred from invading Crimea, but they weren’t.
Bear in mind that thus far, President Obama has not sanctioned Russia at all for their lawless behavior. Rather, he sanctioned seven Russian diplomats on a personal level by freezing their US bank accounts, securities, and property holdings. As weak as that action appears at face value, it bears mentioning that the seven diplomats had no US based accounts, securities, and land holdings. This made his weak response utterly vapid.
Now, there is certainly talk about the United States and the European Union getting tough with Russia, but the president did not elaborate on what that would entail. Would he again sanction individual Russians? Perhaps he needs to first find out which ones have assets that can be frozen. Regardless, his supporters believe he destroyed the Fox News reporter with his eloquent response.