Americans agree with Obama on Iraq, yet score him low on foreign policy
President Obama and most Americans are in agreement on Iraq: The United States shouldn鈥檛 have invaded and occupied that country in the first place, and it shouldn鈥檛 send a bunch of US troops back into that fight.
To the extent that Americans concern themselves with foreign policy 鈥� just 19 percent tell Gallup they鈥檙e following the Benghazi affair 鈥渧ery closely,鈥� despite congressional Republican efforts to portray that episode as a major administration failing 鈥� that would seem to play politically in Obama鈥檚 favor.
Yet, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 鈥渏ust 37 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy, which is an all-time low in the survey, while 57 percent disapprove, an all-time high,鈥� as NBC reported.
There are other elements at play here, of course. A plurality (44-30 percent) disapproves of the Taliban prisoner swap which brought home US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl after five years of captivity.
But this souring opinion on Obama and foreign policy also fits a picture of declining US influence in the world, symbolized by developments in Syria and Ukraine as well as in Iraq.
聽鈥淢ore than half of Americans think their country is less powerful than it was ten years ago, the highest share since the Pew Research Center started asking the question in 1974,鈥� the Economist reports. 鈥淎ccordingly, Americans feel less inclined to act as global policeman: the share who thinks America should 鈥榤ind its own business internationally鈥� is ten percentage points higher than at the end of the Vietnam War.鈥�
A recent Public Policy Polling survey buttresses this analysis, putting the question this way:
鈥淧resident Obama has announced that he will not send US troops to Iraq under any circumstances. Senator John McCain has argued that the United States should have left troops in Iraq rather than withdraw them from Iraq as we did in 2011. Would you say you agree more with President Obama or Senator McCain about whether the U.S. should have troops in Iraq?鈥�
By nearly two-to-one (54-28 percent) respondents said they agree with Obama.
By an even greater margin (67-20 percent) those who took the survey said the US 鈥渟hould provide supplies and intel, but no ground troops鈥� rather than providing 鈥渨hatever help is necessary, including ground troops.鈥�
What鈥檚 more, most Americans think the Bush administration鈥檚 decision to invade and occupy Iraq was a mistake 鈥� by a margin of 50-38 percent in a Pew Research Center/USA Today poll, and by 62-37 percent in a CNN/ORC poll.
"All in all, considering the costs to the United States versus the benefits to the United States, do you think the war聽in聽Iraq was worth fighting, or not?" asked an ABC News/Washington Post poll. By 58-38 percent, a majority thought the war had not been worth fighting. CBS News, NBC News/Wall Street Journal, and Gallup all had similar results.
Many Americans no doubt remain weary and wary of US involvement in Iraq 鈥� especially now that a few hundred US advisers are to return as 鈥渂oots on the ground鈥� per Obama鈥檚 order this week. Likely, this adds to the general public grumpiness about Obama and foreign policy.
Obama acknowledged that concern Thursday, saying, 鈥淲e always have to guard against mission creep.鈥�
Former State Department Iraq expert Henri Barkey, now a professor of international relations at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.,聽 says the military advisers' objectives are bound to multiply the longer they stay.
As he told the Monitor鈥檚 Howard LaFranchi, 鈥淭here is an element of mission creep built into this [deployment], whether we like it or not.鈥�
