I was just reading an article on The New York Times by Roger Cohen who characterizes the president’s new foreign policy philosophy as “The Mellow Doctrine” that includes, in his own words, “acknowledgment of the limits of American power; frankness about U.S. failings; careful listening; fear reduction; adroit deployment of the wide appeal of brand Barack Hussein Obama; and jujitsu engagement.” In all truth, this could better be described as “The Yellow Doctrine” but in spite of that I admire the author’s honesty in describing the Obama foreign policy, something lacking in mainstream media today. As a former practitioner of judo, cousin to the aforementioned martial art, I do not see anything “jujitsu” about the yellow doctrine, at least not yet. Unless this is what Cohen meant:

As for the rest, this philosophy of “hoping” that our enemies will play nice if we put on a big, sloppy, goofy smile is naive at best, cowardly at worst. Of course, the author does not think so and runs through a list of “accomplishments":

- Cohen writes: “the Castro brothers in Cuba are squabbling over the meaning of Obama’s overtures.” In a sense, this is true, but what they are squabbling over is what they will be willing to negotiate. Raul seems to have no use for the pro-democracy dissidents while Fidel wants to keep them as a scapegoat and as hostages. This is a question of tactics not strategy. The Castros will use the political prisoners and dissidents as a bargaining chip one way or another, especially when they can very easily round up a few hundred more political prisoners to replace any that are used as an “exchange.” The administration is clearly waiting for the Castros to “concede” something so that they can issue a new round of unilateral concessions. This is hardly an effective policy. It gives the communist regime what they want: more dollars and more recognition.

- Cohen writes that “Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez has gone gooey-eyed over the “Yanqui” president.” The author obviously has not heard what Venezuela has said about Obama at home. Chavez has called him a “poor ignorant,” has told him to “not mess with Venezuela” and mind his own business, has told him to stop going down the “path of stupidity,” has said that he represents the “destroyer” of Latin America and in the same breath has called for the “fall of ‘the empire’ [America].” Come time to get in front of the world’s cameras and Chavez acts all warm and fuzzy, gives Obama a gift, and from the looks of it did not get the opportunity to give him a kiss, but who knows what happens back-stage. Chavez is playing with Obama and with the Venezuelan people. By the looks of it, Cohen is falling for it. By all estimation, Chavez will eventually fall in line behind the Castro strategy of asking for concessions. All he wants is to continue his own private socialist “revolution” in Venezuela and extract as much as he can from the United States.

Chavez says: “Don’t Mess With Me, Mr. Obama” [Spanish]

- Cohen writes that Bush era policies made things “easy” for our enemies. While I concede that Bush’s PR and bad handling of certain matters, exacerbated by the wars, made a lot of people mad at the United States, they also helped crystallize who was our friend and who was our enemy. In the post-911 world, this is critical. Now Obama wants to make friends with everyone and reduce “fear,” when what is needed is for the United States to be either respected or feared in the world… and to extend your hands to your enemies while they talk about destroying your country is not going to generate respect nor fear, it will only project weakness and make America less safe.

At the end, Cohen clarifies what the success of the yellow doctrine will look like: “it will succeed if America’s foes understand that normal relations with Washington do not imply the loss of distinctive cultures and politics or the imposition of U.S. values.” The author has it backwards. The issue is not our foes’ fears of compromising their own values… the issue is that by accepting terrorists or dictators with open arms WE end up compromising our own values… and that, my friends, is what the enemy wants.

-AG