Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Two pieces on Obama’s foreign policy

The New Yorker has a fun gossipy account of Obama foreign policy moves. It has some nice touches, but mainly reads to me like the world as seen by Anne Marie Slaughter and her homies at the State Department. The undertone, I think, is “smart girls at the State Department, with some help from Samantha ...

New York Times Magazine
New York Times Magazine
New York Times Magazine

The New Yorker has a fun gossipy account of Obama foreign policy moves. It has some nice touches, but mainly reads to me like the world as seen by Anne Marie Slaughter and her homies at the State Department. The undertone, I think, is "smart girls at the State Department, with some help from Samantha Power, showed Obama and his boys at the White House how to do foreign policy." The article gets Drezner-ized here. I'm surprised that FP's Shadow Governors haven't feasted on this article. (It is a fun blog but they need to file more.)

The New Yorker has a fun gossipy account of Obama foreign policy moves. It has some nice touches, but mainly reads to me like the world as seen by Anne Marie Slaughter and her homies at the State Department. The undertone, I think, is “smart girls at the State Department, with some help from Samantha Power, showed Obama and his boys at the White House how to do foreign policy.” The article gets Drezner-ized here. I’m surprised that FP‘s Shadow Governors haven’t feasted on this article. (It is a fun blog but they need to file more.)

I actually found this Sunday New York Times Magazine piece on Obama’s mother more illuminating, in terms of understanding the president and his view of the world. But both are good articles — and strong examples of the role of long-form journalism.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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