Obama likely to opt for strategic retraction

Source: China Daily | 11-26-2008 13:38

BEIJING, Nov. 26 -- When Barack Obama is officially sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the world he faces will be very different from the one his predecessor George W. Bush did eight years ago.

President-elect Barack Obama walks out to introduce members of his economic team during a news conference in Chicago, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The days when the U.S. sat comfortably relishing the spoils of the Cold War are long gone, as the war in Iraq and the spreading financial crisis have dragged the country into a difficult situation it has not seen for decades.

What does all this mean to the Obama administration when it takes office or to the U.S. for that matter? Taking a cue from a slew of signs, I believe that Obama's government will very likely pursue a strategic retraction, meaning the U.S. will very likely enter a period of strategic adjustment.

The last time the U.S. underwent a strategic retraction was in the early 1970s. The starting signals came in then President Richard Nixon's address to the nation on the war in Vietnam on Nov 3, 1969 and the annual foreign affairs report his administration submitted to Congress in Feb 1970.

Nixon said back then the U.S. would still honor its obligations spelled out in the treaties it had signed with its allies, but it was impossible for the U.S. to defend all "free countries" in the world and those under security threats should rely on themselves more than on any other nation, because the U.S. would not plunge into another protracted conflict like the Vietnam War ever again.