Fmr. Obama Adviser: We Haven’t Improved Relations With Many Countries

Former Obama campaign foreign policy adviser David Tafuri stated that while “American standing is much stronger right now,” “there may not be many countries where we have a much better relationship as a result of President Obama” and that there are “weaknesses” in the US’ ISIS strategy on Thursday’s “O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel.

Tafuri addressed comments on Obama’s foreign policy made by former President Jimmy Carter, saying, “Well, President Carter has a point to an extent. I think he’s right that there may not be many countries where we have a much better relationship as a result of President Obama. However, President Carter also said we lost prestige and influence over the last seven years, since President Obama took office. I cannot agree with that. I think our prestige and influence were at an all-time low as President Bush left office because of some of his brash decisions, because he ran in into two wars without putting a lot of planning into it, and also because of the financial crisis which we had at that time. American standing is much stronger right now. Yes, President Obama could be more bold in his foreign policy. He could have more distinctive accomplishments.”

He later added that there are “weaknesses” in President Obama’s ISIS strategy, but declared “there is a coalition” to fight ISIS. Tafuri later argued, “The president could have done things better with respect to ISIS, certainly the president should have act[ed] much more quickly in Syria. Had we acted in Syria, supported the moderate opposition, perhaps ISIS wouldn’t have grown as strong as they did. We need a stronger policy on Syria, we need to arm the forces on the ground like the Kurds in Iraq and in Syria who are fighting ISIS. We haven’t done a great job on that. However, the president is putting his attention on it now. And let’s see what happens over the next 18 months.”

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