Over the course of our conversations, I came to see Obama as a president who has grown steadily more fatalistic about the constraints on America’s ability to direct global events.
Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine stressing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate. Fatalism generally refers to any of the following ideas: The view that we are powerless to do anything other than what we actually do.-Wikipedia
Fatalism seems of a piece with DDSS. I wish he weren't fatalistic and I wish he'd do something even if it's wrong.
But he also has come to learn, he told me, that very little is accomplished in international affairs without U.S. leadership.
Obama talked me through this apparent contradiction. “I want a president who has the sense that you can’t fix everything,” he said.
But he also has come to learn, he told me, that very little is accomplished in international affairs without U.S. leadership.
Obama talked me through this apparent contradiction. “I want a president who has the sense that you can’t fix everything,” he said.
It is true, the U.S. "can't fix everything." Who amongst us disagrees with that? But neither do I want a president who says he "has the sense that you can't fix everything." I want a president who is modest about America's ability to fix everything but who is going to try to fix everything. I want a president who sees clearly what needs to be fixed, is going to think through with a can-do mindset to try his damnedest to fix everything, to try in the close cases, to not go into contemplation of an issue with a "fatalistic" mindset that America cannot act. Obama's mindset leads to paralysis by analysis. I don't want paralysis. If we are to fail, let us fail with flair, let us go down trying, not sitting around being fatalistic.
But on the other hand, “if we don’t set the agenda, it doesn’t happen.” He explained what he meant. “The fact is, there is not a summit I’ve attended since I’ve been president where we are not setting the agenda, where we are not responsible for the key results,” he said. “That’s true whether you’re talking about nuclear security, whether you’re talking about saving the world financial system, whether you’re talking about climate.”
...
“For all of our warts, the United States has clearly been a force for good in the world,” he said. “If you compare us to previous superpowers, we act less on the basis of naked self-interest, and have been interested in establishing norms that benefit everyone. If it is possible to do good at a bearable cost, to save lives, we will do it.”
Okay! That is not fatalism. That is good.
...
“For all of our warts, the United States has clearly been a force for good in the world,” he said. “If you compare us to previous superpowers, we act less on the basis of naked self-interest, and have been interested in establishing norms that benefit everyone. If it is possible to do good at a bearable cost, to save lives, we will do it.”
Okay! That is not fatalism. That is good.
