A New Approach

“Amazing what happens when you cast aside the testosterone”, was the first line of Roger Cohen’s Op-Ed column in the NYT on Monday and I couldn’t agree more.

The masters of the testosterone movement over the past eight years – specifically “porcupine, prickly” Cheney and numerous other Republicans perceive “a weak president”, but according to Cohen, the truth is that foes of the United States have been disarmed by Barack Obama’s no-drama diplomacy. He calls it the mellow doctrine – neither idealistic nor classic realpolitik, it involves finding strength through unconventional means, such as the acknowledgment of the limits of American power; frankness about U.S. failings; careful listening; fear reduction; adroit deployment of the wide appeal of brand Barack Obama; and jujitsu engagement.

Even though more time is needed to see its results, the “mellow doctrine has already brought some remarkable shifts.

The Castro brothers in Cuba are squabbling over the meaning of Obama’s overtures. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has gone gooey-eyed over the Yanqui president. Turkey relented on a major NATO dispute, persuaded of the importance of Obama’s conciliatory message to Muslims.

From Damascus to Tehran, new debate rages over possible rapprochement with Washington. In Israel, it appears the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to drag his Likud party kicking and screaming to acceptance of the idea of a two-state solution because he knows the cost of an early confrontation with Obama.

Not bad for 105 days.

As Cohen says, the fact is the United States spent most of the eight years before last January making things easy for its enemies. It was in the ammunition-supply business.

Nothing comforted U.S. foes as much as Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, axis-of-evil moral certitude and the schoolyard politics of punishment. All you had to do, from Moscow to Caracas, was point a finger toward the White House and domestic woes paled. All you had to do, in the recruitment schools of Waziristan and Ramadi, was show video footage of Americans humiliating Muslims. Even among allies, nobody much wanted to help the former administration.

Of course, Fidel Castro is talking about “definite failure” for Obama and lambasting him for preserving a “blockade” (it’s in fact an outmoded partial trade embargo), while his brother Raul says Cuba’s ready and eager to discuss everything.

Obama and his administration still have a long way to go and it won’t be easy. And the likes of the aging Fidel will try to resist the mellow doctrine. But it will succeed if America’s foes understand that normal relations with Washington do not imply the loss of distinctive cultures and politics or the imposition of U.S. values, but rather the “mutual respect” which Obama has promised Iran.