Obama's Policy Changes And The Costanza Doctrine

Seth Mandel writes that a new era may be dawning in the Obama administration as Barack Obama inaugurates the Costanza Doctrine:

In a season five episode of “Seinfeld,” George Costanza’s character decides his life has been marked by an almost uninterrupted parade of bad decisions, and he must now do the opposite to break the pattern. The L.A. Times tries delicately to couch the Obama administration’s second-term foreign policy agenda in terms of moderation and pragmatism, but voters may, if the report is correct, witness an agenda quite different in tone and substance from what Obama told them he would do if reelected.

According to the LA Times, Obama reassessing sensitive foreign issues now that election is over, but as Mandel notes among the issues Obama is reconsidering are whether to:

• Deepen US involvement in Syria’s civil war
• Accelerate the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan
• Offer Iran a deal to encourage it to its curb enrichment of uranium
• Consider ways to work out new cooperation with China

Read the whole thing.

This is not the platform Obama was running on.

That resemblance between Obama and George Costanza might not be so superficial after all.
Back in October, the blog Predictable History, Unpredictable Past featured this graphic:

Looks like he got it right.

Mandel concludes that among other things, Obama's post-election policy change:

...tells us why the Israeli administration seemed so unnerved by Obama’s Iran policy despite his repeated assurances that the Israelis–and the broader Arab world, much of which is also concerned about Iran’s nuclear program–had nothing to worry about.

Let the Middle East know: now would be a good time to worry.


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