This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, January 19th, 2017.

I'm Caleb Brown.

President Obama's foreign policy is checkered to say the least.

His pledge to end a war ultimately became new fights in several more countries.

Chris Preble, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute comments.

Having observed Barack Obama in the White House for eight years, what would you say

is the biggest takeaway or what is the biggest legacy that he leaves behind with respect to foreign policy?

Well, it's obviously too soon to say, but I think as our colleague Gene Healy and others have said, actually

Barack Obama said this, he has left a loaded gun in the hands of his successor in terms

of executive power that's particularly relevant for foreign policy in terms of the use of

drones and unmanned vehicles and surveillance and things like that.

Gene is more eloquent and more knowledgeable on that point. I think that his

legacy on foreign policy is largely a misconception. It's an important misconception. I think

it's a misconception that has informed the incoming president and his advisors, which is the

belief that Barack Obama was too unwilling to use force that he was even a dove. I find these claims curious at best.

He's a dove only in the sense that bombing people in at least seven countries simultaneously,

only two of which had congressional authorization is evidence of a dove.

To me, it seems strange indeed.

If you go down the list of actual concrete initiatives, military initiatives

that President Obama launched over the course of eight years.

Is it possible that someone else in his position

would have launched more wars and more attacks against more people?

...