Waldman: Time for Obama to Explain Libya Policy

Michael Waldman writes at Bloomberg.com:

Barack Obama has opened the first new military action of his presidency in Libya. He may believe U.S. missiles speak for themselves. They don’t.

He has a duty to explain to his country and to the world why he did what he did. In so doing, he must embrace the unilateral, at times unsettling, aspect of presidential command. Here, stagecraft is statecraft.

The decision to attack Muammar Qaddafi’s forces may well be justified, but the process by which it was made and announced leaves something to be desired. As discontent roiled Libya during the Arab revolutions, the clearest voice from the administration argued against the very kind of intervention the U.S. later undertook.

Then, by a twist of timing, Obama was in Latin America on a long-scheduled trip when he decided to join military action. His first statement to the country was carried by audio from Brasilia. Later talks and press-conference chats were cursory.

Some critics say he should have canceled his trip. But Brazil is a major rising economy, and that leg of the trip made sense. Perhaps he could have curtailed the visit to Chile and El Salvador. In any case, he should have found a venue to deliver a full-length address to the American people about what he did and why.

Instead, at no time so far has he spoken to the country, at length, about why he felt it necessary to take this military action, at this moment. He hasn’t clearly argued the benefit to U.S. national security that may come from the popular movement toward democracy in the Arab world. And he hasn’t set out his vision of where this action fits into a larger framework: What are America’s goals? When will it intervene? What limits will it place on that intervention?

Of course, I write as an ex-presidential speechwriter. As the old saying goes, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But these are more than quibbles. Long-term military and diplomatic success requires a president to level with the public and articulate goals. ...

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