The unexpected opponent of Obama

Hillary Clinton suddenly sharply criticized Barack Obama's policy

Was the unexpected criticism of the foreign policy of US President Barack Obama by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the first preliminary act of the 2016 presidential campaign? This issue is raised by many American commentators after the sensational interview with Clinton, The Atlantic, in which she harshly criticizes the president, and the attempt to reconcile with the president on Tuesday.

In an interview with The Atlantic magazine , published on Sunday, the former head of the United States Foreign Policy Department claims that she does not agree with several key policy decisions adopted during her leadership of the US Department of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, President Obama, according to her, has no intelligible working foreign policy concept. The foreign policy of the White House, in her opinion, is based on the only postulate of Barack Obama, who in a soft form sounds like this: "Do not do stupid things." According to Hillary Clinton, the installation of "do not do nonsense" cannot serve as the fundamental principle of US foreign policy.

A year and a half after the departure of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton puts claims to several key foreign policy decisions that were made during her leadership by the State Department. She calls the American strategy in Syria a “failure” and says that from the very beginning of the Syrian crisis, she advocated decisive support for the moderate Syrian opposition. This did not happen, and the vacuum in Syria was filled with radical Islamists. She is in doubt about the rationality of negotiations with Iran regarding his nuclear program and criticizes the consent of the White House to legalize Tehran to enrich Uranus. She fleetingly mentions Washington’s failed Russian policy, accuses Russia of involvement in the destruction of a passenger airliner over Ukraine and concludes that the world "requires American power, American influence, American values."

This amazing attack against the current president from the side of the not so long -loyal cabinet member clearly touched the living environment of the president. On Tuesday, the president’s friend, his former closest adviser David Axelrod answered Hillary Clinton, resorting to Twitter. "I will try to clarify something." Do not do stupid things "-does not mean do not do things like the occupation of Iraq, which was a tragic wrong decision."

Just to Clarify: "Don`t Do Stupid Stuff" Means Stuff Like Occuping Iraq in the First Place, Which Was a Tragically Bad Decision.

- David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 12, 2014

It was a transparent hint that Hillary Clinton, when he was a senator, voted for the beginning of a military campaign in Iraq.

The Clinton’s sudden change of views, her critics from the conservative camp immediately recalled that Clinton was one of the early supporters of negotiations with Iran, that shortly before the start of the Syrian crisis, she called Bashar Assad a reformer with which she publicly supported the strategy of the American-Russian “reloading”.

Once between the two lights, Hillary Clinton considered it necessary to call President Obama on Tuesday in order to assure the president that critical statements about his foreign policy are not an attempt to attack him or his government. According to the representative of Clinton, many commentators are trying to inflate the disagreements between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but they have unanimity in a wide range of basic issues.

It would seem that the president’s non -provoked criticism from the former Secretary of State forced the American commentators to talk about the beginning of the still undeclared presidential campaign Hillary Clinton.

“All this looks like the beginning of the presidential struggle, such a juicy political skirmish two years before the presidential election,” says Greg Valier, an employee of Potomac Research Group, in an interview with Bloomberg. - If you believe different sources, the environment of President Obama is outraged by this action Hillary Clinton, especially because she began to criticize Obama’s foreign policy only two months before the intermediate elections to Congress. That is, it gives the Republicans an ammunition in their attacks on the Democrats. But Hillary Clinton, in my opinion, is not really worried. On the contrary, she seemed to tell the left -handed wing of the Democratic Party that she does not need his support, that the presidential nomination is provided to her if she wants to compete for the presidency. Her goal is already universal elections now, and she believes that a more decisive position on foreign policy issues will help her to prevail in the elections.

In the sixth year of Barack Obama’s presidency, foreign policy looks like the weakest President’s place in the eyes of the Americans. The tangible majority - 55 percent of the respondents - negatively assess the president’s international strategy. For a politician who is preparing to put up his candidacy for the presidency, an attempt to dissociate himself from the policy with which his own name is associated and looks natural. However, as the newspaper The Washington Post writes , a public break with the president can add determination to the potential rivals of Hillary Clinton, who are not deciding to challenge the legendary political tandem of Clintons, skillfully cultivating allies. It is silent, for example, Vice President Joe Biden, who had previously made his interest in the struggle for the presidency. The newspaper notes that Barack Obama, unlike his predecessors, showed no interest in the preparation of his potential successor.

But if Hillary Clinton finds a political opponent in the president, her task will be very complicated. After all, she suffered a sensational crushing defeat six years ago from a beginner in the policy of Barack Obama.