Samantha Power: Obama’s International Woman of Foreign Policy

During a listening tour last week, Iowans were provided an opportunity to share their foreign-policy insights with Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois’ senior advisor on foreign policy, Samantha Power (see pic), whose book, “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. Today, Obama is scheduled to deliver an address on foreign policy in Clinton, Iowa at 1:30 p.m. Power, a professor of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, gave Iowans a taste of what to expect today, or at least some insight into Obama’s thought process behind his policy-making decisions.

“When it comes to foreign policy, Obama likes unlike minded people in the room, who are willing to spar over foreign policy,” Power told a crowd of 150 people gathered at the Bijou movie theater in Iowa City Thursday. “This is how he figures out where he is. He doesn’t listen for the political winds to tell him what to do. It’s incredibly refreshing to see somebody who welcomes that interrogation of his own ideas without feeling paralyzed, opposed to like-minded people who make bad decisions, because they’ve opted out contrary view points.”

Obama has vowed to challenge conventional thinking in Washington and wants to develop his policy agenda by consulting with people, who are actually affected by these policies, not Washington special interests. “As I continue to flesh out my policy agenda to change America, I want my senior advisers to get advice and insight from people in the Heartland – not Washington special interests,” Obama said in a press release. “Our campaign is building a grassroots movement for change, and I don’t just want Iowans’ support – I want their ideas.”Before opening up the event to the listening component, Power explained why she decided to drop everything to work for Obama. Power first met Obama during the post-Democrat National Convention speech and pre-presidential candidate phase of his life, when he first started his career in the Senate. Upon returning from Darfur, Power was contacted by Obama to meet with him and discuss foreign policy. When she first met Obama, Power was immediately impressed by the mind behind the rock-star persona that had manifested after his 2004 DNC speech.

“I want to frontload my strategic thinking on my foreign policy,” Obama told Power during their initial meeting. “I don’t want to arrive at my foreign policy platform after I’ve already made 4000 votes in the U.S. Senate.” Defaulting to her cynicism of the Washington political system, Power asked herself: “Can he stay that way? Does Washington take somebody who is this vigilant and rigorous and curious to figure it out? Can Washington handle somebody like Obama, who is ruthlessly pragmatic?”

For Power, actions speak louder than words, and she acted upon the answers to her own rhetorical questions when she packed up and moved to D.C., after Obama asked if she would come work for him. While working with Obama during his first term as a Senator from Illinois, Power had the chance to see his mind up close and how it worked — before the thought of running for president ever crossed it. Once Obama did decide to run for president, Power, given her experiences alongside Obama in Congress, was not at all surprised and supported his decision. “Obama had seen enough of what he needed in D.C. to realize that he didn’t want to become a part of the system and the system needed to change,” Power said.

Drawing from her background in practicing and teaching law, Power made her case for the Obama presidency to the Iowa City audience. Contrary to the criticism that he is not experienced enough to be president, Power said experience was the primary reason why Obama should be the next president. “As Obama has said, experience is a proxy for judgment,” Power said. “He’s the only viable Democrat presidential candidate to realize that the war in Iraq would be a colossal blunder. I hear critics point out there was no risk for Obama, since he was not even in the Senate, but what they fail to mention is that he was a candidate, who was in a neck-and-neck race in Illinois.

“Not only that, but Obama was running behind in his campaign when he publicly denounced the war in Iraq,” Power said. “Considering support for the war in Iraq was popular at that time, Obama took a huge political risk speaking out at the time. What I see from this is that Obama’s experiences in the world have given him the capacity to bring this kind of judgment to bear and willingness to take those kinds of political risks, if principal is at stake. If judgment tells him to go in one direction and the political winds tell him to sail in another direction, Obama will always side with his judgment.”

Power also made the argument on Obama’s behalf that years of experience in Washington does not always translate into good foreign policy. “Take Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, for example. They have a combined 78 years of experience, and look what path they’ve taken us down,” said Power. Furthermore, Power touted Obama as a man of the world, who we’ll need at the helm in the White House to help navigate us through the global world. Moreover, Power’s longing for a return to the Constitution and Obama’s experience teaching constitutional law were other determinant factors in her decision to fully support Obama in his bid for the White House. “I’m nostalgic for the Constitutuion. I miss it,” Power quipped.

Power says Obama is also a man of the world and that we have entered a global world, so it will take a politician who has experienced the world and understands its complexities to reengage us in the global community. Paradoxically, Obama wants to move us forward by drawing from the past, in particular the wisdom of former presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. “Obama has adopted two of FDR’s four mantras: to lead with a `freedom of fear,’ and a `freedom from want.’”

“Using his Democratic rivals’ recent criticisms that stemmed from a presidential debate response regarding dealing with despotic countries,” Power said, “Obama draws upon Kennedy for inspiration, who said, `Never negotiate in fear, but never fear to negotiate.’” Power says that Obama knows that we’re in the long haul when it comes to reclaiming our foothold in the global community, and he’s not looking to adopt a foreign policy that’s politically attractive in the short run.

After the event, Power cemented her rock-star status in Iowa City’s foreign policy community as audience members gathered around her to ask more questions and/or get their books autographed. University of Iowa student Alicia Dill, a Cedar Rapids native, said she hadn’t decided who she was going vote for, but was considering Obama. Dill, a veteran of the Iowa National Guard, had just returned from Kosovo, where she spent a tour of duty as a military journalist. “To be perfectly honest, I really came here to see Samantha Power,” Dill said. “I read her book after I returned from Kosovo, and it wasn’t until then that I realized why I was over there in the first place.”