20 December 2009

Ideologues vs. Critical Realists: Obama as Critical Realist in his Treatment of The War in Afghanistan

Ideologues defer to ideology for some reason or another (intellectual laziness or political convenience?) while critical realists approach each issue with a drive to know- a need for information and a laborious process of weighing options, construing insights and ultimately making judgments.

Barack Obama is a critical realist (not his words but my assessment). I say this after observing his treatment of the war in Afghanistan. He was criticized for taking too much time in deciding what his approach to Afghanistan would be, though he defended himself by pointing out that his delaying a decision did not delay action on the ground.

As he laid out the plan for more troops in Afghanistan, he made public the process of his reasoning. This is something that he has done throughout his campaign and presidency- revealed his process of weighing options and ultimately deciding on a course of action. The New York Times describes his decision making process in the case of Afghanistan:

The three-month review that led to the escalate-then-exit strategy is a case study in decision making in the Obama White House — intense, methodical, rigorous, earnest and at times deeply frustrating for nearly all involved. It was a virtual seminar in Afghanistan and Pakistan, led by a president described by one participant as something “between a college professor and a gentle cross-examiner.”

Mr. Obama peppered advisers with questions and showed an insatiable demand for information, taxing analysts who prepared three dozen intelligence reports for him and Pentagon staff members who churned out thousands of pages of documents...

Aides...said the arduous review gave Mr. Obama comfort that he had found the best course he could. “The process was exhaustive, but any time you get the president of the United States to devote 25 hours, anytime you get that kind of commitment, you know it was serious business,” said Gen. James L. Jones, the president’s national security adviser. “From the very first meeting, everyone started with set opinions. And no opinion was the same by the end of the process.”


Read the full article here: How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan

5 comments:

DLW said...

Yeah, I've decided to submit to Obama's authority on this one....

nice use of CR thinking.
dlw

Unknown said...

Hi Thomas,

I tried to leave a comment on your post but it ended up being too long for blogspot to accept it. I've decided to provide a link to my blog, where I've posted the comment.

www.nothingfromnothing.net

Kind regards, a.

Thomas said...

Thanks Adam for your stimulating comments. Do you mind if I post your response as a post on my blog with the link to yours?

Thanks,

TA

Unknown said...

Hi Thomas,

I am certainly supportive if you re-post my comments as a blog post on your blog. Thank you for your kind response.

All the best,
Adam

Thomas said...

Adam,

I've posted a response to your comments here on criticalrealism.blogspot.com. Hope all is well with you- thanks for the thoughtful engagement.

TA

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