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| Trump could easily erase much of Obama's foreign policy legacy | |
| 2016-11-12 | |
| U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policy legacy rests in part on a foundation of unilateral actions that his successor Donald Trump could reverse with the stroke of a pen. Due to take office on Jan. 20, Trump, the winner in Tuesday's election, campaigned at times to dismantle Obama's nuclear deal with Iran and to reimpose sanctions Obama eased on Cuba. Trump also disagreed with foreign policy decisions that included the way Obama has deployed troops abroad to combat Islamist militant groups. In his most notable foreign policy achievements, Obama, a Democrat, used executive authorities that offered a convenient legal path around a Republican-controlled Congress committed to blocking his agenda. The U.S. Constitution gives a president broad executive powers to enact foreign policy. Both Republican and Democratic presidents have sought to exercise those powers by issuing executive orders, presidential memoranda and what are called findings. "He (Obama) relied on executive authority to build a foreign policy legacy," said Thomas Wright, director of the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution. "That is all vulnerable to countervailing executive authority by a Trump administration," Wright said. Trump said in an October speech that he would "cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama" on his first day in office, without saying who would determine their constitutionality. Perhaps nowhere has Obama faced more congressional opposition than in his pursuit of the 2015 deal with Iran, which Republicans and some Democrats said put too few restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in return for too much sanctions relief. Trump has vowed to dismantle it, although his statements on the deal have been contradictory. A president may tighten and relax economic sanctions by executive order. "Anything enacted by executive order can be rescinded by executive order," said Zachary Goldman, a former U.S. Treasury official now at New York University. Obama drew enough support from Democrats to block a Republican-led resolution rejecting the Iran deal, achieving a political victory but falling short of a consensus. Trump will have the added advantage of working with a U.S. Senate and a House of Representatives controlled by fellow Republicans. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday he hoped Trump would "see how much he can undo the unilateral actions the president took all by himself, which would not require us."
Obama capped his Cuba efforts last month with a sweeping "presidential policy directive," which also is reversible and sets forth mandates for government engagement, people-to-people exchanges, and greater U.S. business ties. Trump has taken contradictory positions on whether he supports the embargo or not. Trump could roll back Obama's efforts to create greater transparency about drone strikes. Obama issued an executive order in July requiring annual disclosures about such strikes. As commander-in-chief, Trump will wield the power to mobilize the U.S. military on short notice and without first seeking approval from Congress. Obama deployed U.S. troops to Iraq, Syria and Libya to help fight the Islamic State militant group by relying on the authority Congress granted President George W. Bush to battle al Qaeda. That same authority would allow Trump to ramp up U.S. deployments in fights against Islamist militants if he chose to do so. One former U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president can approve covert action and needs only to brief relevant leaders in Congress once the operation is under way. Trump's powers, however, are limited. He pledged to expand the Army, grow the Marine Corps, boost the Navy from 276 to 350 ships and submarines, and raise the number of Air Force tactical aircraft from 1,100 to 1,200. For starters, that would require that Congress scrap government spending caps under the Budget Control Act. Trump's support for water-boarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, also would meet opposition. Congress last year passed legislation barring the use of waterboarding and other "extreme interrogation techniques" widely considered torture. Obama signed the measure into law last November. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #18 Waaayyt a minute Cheaderhead! Texas doesn't want em. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-11-12 23:18 |
| #17 And lend a bit of damn urgency to running the country. The UK House of Commons does not have near enough seats for all its members, so when something is really happening you gotta get there early or be Winston Churchill or its SRO, lends an air of importance to the proceedings. The HOC has significantly less scmoozing in the aisles, want to talk, hit the cloakroom and have a double. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2016-11-12 22:45 |
| #16 If one were to move the Houses of Congress to another location, along with the diffrent Departments they should be moved to the single most environmentaly unncomfortable place in the country. Hotter than hell in summer, blue balls cold in winter. Rainy, wet and humid in spring and fall. With no air conditioning and central heating allowed in government offices and the congressional/senate chambers. If the place is too bad and all legislative/policy has to conducted in this location then maybe, just maybe on the rare occasion congresscould actually convene they might try and get something done just so they could get the hell out. Maybe two locations. Summer in a swamp down South. Winters in say Nome. As to EOs. I for one have never understood just how they can be constitutional in the first place. |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2016-11-12 21:32 |
| #15 As a companion project to "THE WALL" I would like to see the houses of congress moved to, or near to, the geographic center of the US. Leave the museums and art galleries where they are, thereby creating both a tourist center and a legislative center. |
| Posted by: Waldemar Hupating7525 2016-11-12 20:01 |
| #14 I'm all for removing any trace of Obama's "legacy" BUT some of his atrocities were layered on some things (like the constitution) which shouldn't be destroyed in the process. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath-water. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2016-11-12 17:39 |
| #13 |
| Posted by: Injun Bucket8891 2016-11-12 11:38 |
| #12 Careful! Drain that too much swamp and Mitch et alia would have no soothing mud pools to lay about in. /s Who am I trying to kid. Drain it and burn it out with napalm. We'll work on glassing it over later. Not one shred of his EO's should remain. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2016-11-12 10:54 |
| #11 Trump will need hazmat gear to clean out the White House. As far as house and senate so-called leaders Paul and Mitch go, they need to go. They are part of the problem. We need leaders, not weasel manipulators. If we don't drain the swamp, we will be back to where we started or worse. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2016-11-12 10:37 |
| #10 Trump will need the rivers Alpheus and Peneus. |
| Posted by: charger 2016-11-12 10:29 |
| #9 Trump needs a shovel and a wet vac to clean up Obumble's legacy. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-11-12 09:34 |
| #8 Rarely has Trump railed against big government. It seems the primary object of his rancor has been incompetence - or stupid as likes to say. It's hard to imagine that he will reverse actions that may someday limit his power. We can hope. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2016-11-12 09:33 |
| #7 If you spill wine on your rugs you have to remove the stains without bleaching out the rug itself, same thing with graffiti on the walls can't just use a blow torch to burn it off. Of course one can always simply move. Why would Trump downsize to the WH when he could move staff, et. al. to the tower in NYC? One doesn't need to live with wine stains and burned walls. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-11-12 09:09 |
| #6 While I'm all for erasing Obama's policies on pretty much everything Trump will have to be careful how he does it. I agree! Careful lest he forget any. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-11-12 08:58 |
| #5 While I'm all for erasing Obama's policies on pretty much everything Trump will have to be careful how he does it. I disagree. Everyone of Obama's overreaches and unconstitutional EO's and directives needs to erased, I don't care if they get blow torched. |
| Posted by: Ebbater Spomp2342 2016-11-12 08:53 |
| #4 without saying who would determine their constitutionality. Excuse me? The answer is blindingly obvious - the same position that determined their constitutionalality when imposed. The President. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2016-11-12 07:52 |
| #3 While I'm all for erasing Obama's policies on pretty much everything Trump will have to be careful how he does it. If you spill wine on your rugs you have to remove the stains without bleaching out the rug itself, same thing with graffiti on the walls can't just use a blow torch to burn it off. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2016-11-12 07:52 |
| #2 The sooner the better. Ryan too. |
| Posted by: Omomort Cheager7040 2016-11-12 05:39 |
| #1 One of these days Mitch will have to go. |
| Posted by: gorb 2016-11-12 02:06 |