10/21/10, 5:02 PM: I’m sitting in the CGIS Tsai Auditorium right now, watching Hersh’s lecture. This live blog attempts an accurate representation on his views. His main point is that Obama, who was elected as a candidate of “change”, has not strayed much from the trail of the Bush Doctrine.
Seymour Hersh, one of America’s most well-known investigative journalists, is an unabashed critic of the foreign policy of what he calls “the Cheney administration”. He believes that in the Age of Obama, that same policy still guides our nation’s decisions.
Hersh’s opinion of the post 9/11 journalim community is less than stellar. He remembers that after 9/11, reporters covering the administration were subjected to an attitude of solidarity. The White House, in his view, permitted “no opposition” in coverage, propagating its own version of the events of the day. “Jefferson would have turned over in his grave.”
The same attitude of coercion was present in the military. The global war on terror, in Hersh’s view, quickly became a crusade for the central administration. It was a top priority for national security officials throughout the Bush administration. All members of government were subconsciously encouraged to support the policies of the President. Hersh also believes that, especially towards the end of the administration, these policies ultimately were Vice-President Cheney’s work.
Though many expected Obama’s administration to take a new direction in policy, “he didn’t make a change.” Obama kept many of Bush’s principal national security experts in place, including Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. “We really have a problem,” reflected Hersh.
Hersh decries the “pointless death” that we’ve experienced in most American wars of the past decade. He feels that our president has gone back on his promises concerning foreign policy. “Obama did not do what he needed to do. He went with the old crowd.” He also feels that Obama has not taken necessary actions in other parts of the world. “I just don’t see the plan.”
And that’s not all. Hersh also believes that these policies additionally have a negative impact on our global image. “There are people now that really don’t like us. And they want to see us dead.” The struggle to regain legitimacy has been a central American concern over the past years. Obama’s election was a temporary boost, but the root of the problem, American foreign policy, has not changed drastically.
I’m sitting in the CGIS Tsai Auditorium right now, watching Hersh. At HPR, we will examine these issues and many more in our next print issue. The cover topic will be “Foreign Policy in the Obama Administration”. In Hersh’s opinion, not much has really changed over the past two years. This winter, check out what HPR has to say.