As the president-elect in 2008, Barack Obama made a promise to ‘regain the moral structure of America in the world.’ He claimed that he would only achieve this by eliminating some of Bush’s most controversial counterterrorism policies. Obama has been in office for nearly 8 years and some differences and similarities are evident between his national security strategies and those of George Bush. However, through an analysis of the two strategies, Obama’s policies are similar to Bush’s with only very few exceptions.
President Bush emphasized on the effective multilateralism that would address the challenges and issues of the day. The challenges were to strengthen alliances against global terrorism in the United States and other nations (“National Security, 2002). The strategy would also develop main agendas that would promote cooperative action with the main areas of global power. Obama’s strategy also emphasized on comprehensive engagement that would depend on traditional allies, but also expanding to key centers of influence.
The presidents also emphasize that national security does not depend on material factors, but on the moral values of the citizens. Bush identified that most urgent threat as the terrorism using nuclear weapons. Obama also stated that “there is no greater threat to the American people that weapons of mass destruction” (“National Security, 2010). The policies on the war on terror would require the participation of elements of national power such as military, law enforcement as well as soft power.
The main difference between the two policies would be Obama’s focus on domestic policies, economically and socially. Obama believes that America would only meet its global challenges based on the national power that depends on the domestic society and the economy. Obama also seems to use a soft-focus approach unlike Bush, who used a sharply delineated approach (Daalder, et. al., 2002)
Work Cited
Daalder, Ivo, Lindsay, J, & Steinberg, J. The Bush National Security Strategy: An evaluation. Brookings Institution, 2002. Print.
National Security Strategy. White House. 2010. Print.
National Security Strategy. White House. 2002. Print.
