Which IR box does Obama fit in? Is he Carter, Bush 41 or Bush 43? Dan Drezner wonders:
Moving from personalities to ideas, the realist/idealist divide, you still wind up with a muddle. Bob Kagan is right to say that Obama's desire for a nuclear-free world is about as idealistic as one can get. Similarly, Obama's affirmation of multilateralism doesn't seem terribly realist either. On the other hand, his policies towards great power rivals like Russia and China, and dependent allies like Israel and Afghanistan, seem pretty damn realist. Much like his Nobel Peace Prize address, the Obama administration's latest foray into the less shallow waters of international relations theory offers a sliver of support to all major IR approaches.Which box you put him in, I suspect, depends on which policy dimension you think matters most. Human rights advocates will use the r-word; fans of nuclear deterrence will use the i-word. As someone concerned with the management of great power politics, I'd be comfortable calling Obama an realist, but I'm biased -- I speculated that this was the approach the post-Bush president would be forced to pursue.
I think much of this really depends on the issue itself, as well as the advisers in the president's ear on the matter. If, for example, nonproliferation makes one an IR idealist, then how do we classify Reagan? And I happen to agree with Drezner's final point; a president's hand is often forced by the times and circumstances.
I think this is a bigger rant for another time, but overall, you already know what I think.
