Bush and Obama, Wars and Economy: Power and People in an Age of Limits and Loss 577nomic calamity, and he inspired people politically more than anyone had in
well over a generation. And, to make the story even more powerful, Obama
was African American, and the idea of a Black president in the U.S., which
no one would have predicted just a few years earlier, came to pass on election
night in November 2008. Obama came to office in January 2009 with “Rock
Star” status, wild popularity and a Democratic Congress. America, hundreds
of millions wanted to believe, was about to change, to reclaim its role as a
global role model and world power.
Now, well into Obama’s second term—he was reelected easily against Mitt
Romney in 2012—a great deal of disappointment has set in. Much of
Obama’s “change,” as the old saying goes, has involved “staying the same.”
And in no area has that been more clear than in his approach to wars and
military involvement, where, if anything, he has actually been more interven-
tionist than George W. Bush. Obama ran as a critic of the Iraq War, and
scored political points by attacking Hillary Clinton for her vote to invade in
2003, and promised to get U.S. troops out of that country as soon as possible.
But Obama also campaigned on increasing the American role in the war in
Afghanistan, which he considered the main front in the war on terror. So in
late 2009 he announced that 35,000 more U.S. troops would be heading to
the war there, raising the number to around 160,000 and raising the cost dra-
matically–the expense for maintaining one soldier for one year is a war zone
is about $1 million apiece. And Afghanistan seemed to be getting worse.
Though the U.S. was euphoric in 2002 in getting rid of the Taliban, the sub-
sequent government of Hamid Karzai did not restore stability or end corrup-
tion, nor eliminate enemies like the former Taliban or al Qaeda. Ironically,
Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize and used his acceptance
speech to defend Afghanistan as a “Just War”–a conflict to rid the region of
terrorists and bring freedom to the people there. Few were impressed.
Obama’s popularity, so high in 2009, has steadily fallen since then. In his
second term, he continues to face global crises, and nowhere more than in the
Middle East and South Asia. Though there are a number of foreign policy
issues causing Obama headaches, 3 continue to stand out: the drone wars in
Pakistan, and, still, Afghanistan and Iraq. Drones are pilotless, remote-con-
trolled planes that can conduct surveillance or drop bombs on enemy posi-
tions, and Obama has made extensive use of this destructive technology in
many places, such as Yemen and especially Pakistan. Despite billions of dollars