President Obama is "risk-averse" and has little experience in foreign policy, says Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group. Therefore he needs a solid foreign policy leadership team, which he had in his first term but lacks in his second. Hear more of Bremmer's take in this video.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
[Diplomatic Courier:]How would you characterize President Obama’s foreign policy leadership style?
[Ian Bremmer:] Obama has an extraordinary analytic mind—he is incredibly intellectually capable, but he is very, very risk averse. He does not prioritize foreign policy. He has no experience in foreign policy, so what he therefore needs is a really good team, and in his first term he had a really good team. They listened to him. Secretary Clinton, Tom Donilon; he had an amazing ambassador to China—the most important country out there—in Jon Huntsman. You had Petraeus; I mean it was a strong group.
And this time around, it’s a weaker group. It’s not as cohesive a group, there’s not as much trust, there’s not as much direct access to the President, and I think that if you’re not going to own it yourself, the people that are in charge better be really good, and I think right now you’ve got a little bit of, you know, neither here nor there.
See the rest of the Ian Bremmer series:
- Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World
- The International Impact of the U.S. Government Shutdown
- Advice to Obama on Syria and Iran—Syria is a "Disaster"
- The Problem with Global Leadership Today
- If Only This World Leader Could Run for High Office in the U.S.
Check out all of our other videos here or on YouTube.
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Ian Bremmer: Obama’s Second Term Foreign Policy Advisors Are the B-Team
October 15, 2013
President Obama is "risk-averse" and has little experience in foreign policy, says Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group. Therefore he needs a solid foreign policy leadership team, which he had in his first term but lacks in his second. Hear more of Bremmer's take in this video.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
[Diplomatic Courier:]How would you characterize President Obama’s foreign policy leadership style?
[Ian Bremmer:] Obama has an extraordinary analytic mind—he is incredibly intellectually capable, but he is very, very risk averse. He does not prioritize foreign policy. He has no experience in foreign policy, so what he therefore needs is a really good team, and in his first term he had a really good team. They listened to him. Secretary Clinton, Tom Donilon; he had an amazing ambassador to China—the most important country out there—in Jon Huntsman. You had Petraeus; I mean it was a strong group.
And this time around, it’s a weaker group. It’s not as cohesive a group, there’s not as much trust, there’s not as much direct access to the President, and I think that if you’re not going to own it yourself, the people that are in charge better be really good, and I think right now you’ve got a little bit of, you know, neither here nor there.
See the rest of the Ian Bremmer series:
- Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World
- The International Impact of the U.S. Government Shutdown
- Advice to Obama on Syria and Iran—Syria is a "Disaster"
- The Problem with Global Leadership Today
- If Only This World Leader Could Run for High Office in the U.S.
