Summary
Politico foreign correspondent Nahal Toosi examines the international record of President Obama's eight years in office and tries to discern the governing principles behind his foreign policy. The president sought to avoid costly overseas interventions - yet his critics allege that he has allowed rival powers like Russia and China to flex their muscles and threaten American interests. And he has been condemned for his signature foreign policy achievements, like rapprochements with Iran and Cuba. With interviews gathered in Europe, the Middle East and in Washington DC, Nahal examines the president's decisions to ask if there is such a thing as an "Obama Doctrine". Producer: Lucy Proctor.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading analysis from the BBC. |
| 0:03.0 | Hope you're enjoying the series. |
| 0:05.0 | Today we go global and look at how a man from Hawaii has changed the world. |
| 0:10.0 | Over to Nahal Tussi. over to know how to see. When we. Yes we can. |
| 0:24.0 | When Barack Obama, a 47-year-old African-American senator from Illinois, was elected president |
| 0:30.0 | of the United States, it wasn't just Americans who heard his message of hope and change. |
| 0:34.8 | Change has come to America. |
| 0:37.5 | The rest of the world was listening to. |
| 0:39.5 | He was different, you know, he was completely different. |
| 0:43.2 | Barack Obama inherited a country that appeared to be in decline economically and militarily |
| 0:49.1 | and succeeded a president, George W Bush, who was almost universally loathed on the world stage. |
| 0:55.0 | Nearly eight years later, has an Obama doctrine emerged? |
| 1:00.0 | A pattern of decisions that tell us what kind of foreign policy he has pursued? |
| 1:05.0 | Was he a realist, an idealist, a risktaker, or too cautious? |
| 1:11.0 | Is it even possible to neatly define Obama, a man who already has defied so many stereotypes |
| 1:17.3 | about U.S. presidents? |
| 1:19.6 | I'm Nahal Toussee. |
| 1:21.1 | I usually cover foreign policy for Politico, a news organization in Washington, D.C. |
| 1:25.8 | He's a deeply pragmatic person. He's a ruthless and in many ways cold-blooded decision-maker. |
| 1:31.7 | That's Derek Shoulay. |
| 1:32.8 | He can be a very unsentimental that has led to criticisms of him. |
| 1:37.8 | But then, of course, at the same time, |
... |
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