Obama warns against isolationism
President Obama on Thursday defended his foreign policy and warned against a strain of isolationism that has recently taken hold in American politics.
Much of his speech described U.S. global obligations and the limits of American military power. The president described the large crowds during his visit last week to Vietnam, with people lining the streets in Hanoi and waving American flags to greet his motorcade. And he spoke of the never-ending demands on American leadership in a world where terrorism, disease and climate change pose real threats.
He criticized Republicans who he said have come to view every treaty as a threat to American sovereignty, and he cautioned against calls from Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, to withdraw from international agreements.
“We can not turn inward. We cannot give in to isolationism,” Obama said. “That is a false comfort.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-warns-against-isolationism-and-vows-to-defend-the-nation/2016/06/02/1f2b5f44-28ed-11e6-b989-4e5479715b54_story.html
Trump has never seen an international agreement that he does not hate whether they deal with climate change, nuclear proliferation, trade, disability rights or anything else. He seems to prefer unilateral American action which international agreements get in the way of.
Obama sounds a little like FDR when he warns of isolationism:
Perfectionism, no less than isolationism or imperialism or power politics, may obstruct the paths to international peace. Let us not forget that the retreat to isolationism a quarter of a century ago was started not by a direct attack against international cooperation but against the alleged imperfections of the peace.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=16595
