Today, President Obama will be the first U.S. President to visit Burma. The unprecedented trip is a celebration for the second largest country in Southeast Asia. It’s also a remarkable achievement since Burma only recently held national elections in 2010 after holding the leader of the democratic opposition party, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for 21 years.
Obama’s visit to ‘cut the ribbon’ on a seemingly foreign policy success story is the culmination of years of hard work and risk-taking leadership from previous presidential administrations. Like most difficult foreign policy issues that take time to achieve progress, the administrations that do the heavy lifting usually watch the next administration celebrate the success. President George H. W. Bush was president in November 1989 when he celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall even though President Ronald Reagan had been the one to risk his reputation on the then controversial policy. While Obama and his team take a victory lap around Burma, they have thus far failed to do the difficult and arduous work today on other foreign policy issues that could someday be celebrated by future administrations.
Today, President Obama will be the first U.S. President to visit Burma. The unprecedented trip is a celebration for the second largest country in Southeast Asia. It’s also a remarkable achievement since Burma only recently held national elections in 2010 after holding the leader of the democratic opposition party, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for 21 years.
Obama’s visit to ‘cut the ribbon’ on a seemingly foreign policy success story is the culmination of years of hard work and risk-taking leadership from previous presidential administrations. Like most difficult foreign policy issues that take time to achieve progress, the administrations that do the heavy lifting usually watch the next administration celebrate the success. President George H. W. Bush was president in November 1989 when he celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall even though President Ronald Reagan had been the one to risk his reputation on the then controversial policy. While Obama and his team take a victory lap around Burma, they have thus far failed to do the difficult and arduous work today on other foreign policy issues that could someday be celebrated by future administrations.
