As it is clear from the scenario that the American foreign policy machine, its armed forces, is in the middle of a so-called “pivot” toward Asia. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton intend to increase their focus on trade, relationships and potential conflicts in Asia while maintaining trying to maintain the vitality of NATO November’s winner will have to deal with the Euro zone crisis, ever-present tensions in East Asia, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and continuing repercussions from the Arab Spring, including Syria’s civil war. However, as with defence, foreign policy questions will likely fall by the wayside this fall as the candidates focus on the struggling economy.
Obama began his presidency with plans to rehabilitate the damaged brand of American foreign policy through engagement with all parties on given issues. This has included the “Reset with Russia”, which yielded the New Start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles. However, talks with Iran deteriorated quickly into further sanctions, US-China relations have not visibly improved, and the Arab Spring remains beyond American control. Obama’s pragmatic foreign policy has generally been well-reviewed, and he is still well-liked around the world.
Romney’s foreign policy experience is limited and many of his positions involve simply being more forceful than his Democratic opponent. In his few statements on foreign affairs, he has criticized the pivot to Asia as an abandonment of NATO. He has also called Obama weak on Iran, Russia and China, and a poor friend to Israel, while offering few specifics on what he would do differently. Foreign policy is not a vote winner and Romney has instead focused his time on criticizing Obama's economic performance.
