Liberal New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof on Tuesday panned President Obama’s state of the union address, saying that the speech fell short, especially on Obama’s foreign policy record.
Sad to see Obama citing US approach to Syria as a “smarter approach.” Syria is Obama’s greatest foreign policy failure.
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) January 13, 2016
In the speech, Obama called for greater cooperation between Republicans and Democrats, and heralded his own policy achievements in the last seven years. On foreign policy, including the ongoing civil war in Syria, Obama said his administration has engaged in a “smarter approach.”
“Sad to see Obama citing U.S. approach to Syria as a ‘smarter approach,'” Kristof said on Twitter. “Syria is Obama’s greatest foreign policy failure.”
“Obama just undermines his credibility when he pretends that his Syria policy — to the extent there is one — is a ‘smarter approach,'” he added.
Obama has been widely criticized for hesitating to insert the U.S. as a greater force in Syria, where the Islamic State has seized large areas of land, displacing millions of citizens, who then had to seek refuge in Europe. Thousands have died, and thousands more have been stranded in Europe.
Kristof concluded Obama’s speech was “thin on details and policy and glided over foreign policy weaknesses.”
Referring to Obama’s jabs at GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has called for a halt on immigration into the U.S., Kristof said the speech was “strong in confronting bigotry.”
