For Republicans, might makes right is back in fashion

Eight years later, we're back where we started

(Image credit: (Brooks Kraft/CORBIS))

Six years into his presidency, President Obama’s foreign policy doctrine can best be summed up in an aphorism: haste makes waste.

"When we make rash decisions, reacting to the headlines instead of using our heads; when the first response to a challenge is to send in our military — then we risk getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts, and neglect the broader strategy we need for a safer, more prosperous world," Obama said in his State of the Union on Tuesday night. "That’s what our enemies want us to do." This is slightly better than "don't do stupid shit."

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Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.