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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Can President Obama Change the Subject?

    Many presidents have diverted attention from domestic defeats by focusing on foreign policy, but that option may not be available to Barack Obama. While the Constitution gives the President authority to conduct foreign policy, he still needs Congress to appropriate money and the Senate to ratify treaties.

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    Many presidents have diverted attention from domestic defeats by focusing on foreign policy, but that option may not be available to Barack Obama. While the Constitution gives the President authority to conduct foreign policy, he still needs Congress to appropriate money and the Senate to ratify treaties. New Republican committee chairs in the House take a dim view of foreign aid, climate change, the arms treaty with Russia or reducing troops in Afghanistan. They want to crack down on Iran and lighten up on Israeli settlements. They might give Obama a break on free trade, but will Democrats go along? Now, the Fed has outraged the rest of the world by deciding to print money.

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Obama Foreign Policy and the New Congress
    1. 0:00President Obama Endorses Security Council Seat for India
    2. 7:48Can President Obama Change the Subject?You’re reading this
    3. 44:38George W. Bush's Take on His Presidency
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/e23b2c8a5a7a4a05410f82a6104e445f/custom_thumbnail_large.png?h=250&fm=webp

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • Sonya Geis with wavy brown hair wearing a black dress with red accents and decorative earrings against a white background.

      Sonya Geis

      Senior Managing Editor

    • KCRW placeholder

      Katie Cooper

      Producer, 'One year Later'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Josh Rogin

      a Washington Post columnist covering foreign policy and national security

    • KCRW placeholder

      Christine Fair

      Georgetown University

    • KCRW placeholder

      Bruce Stokes

      Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Obama Foreign Policy and the New Congress
    1. 0:00President Obama Endorses Security Council Seat for India
    2. 7:48Can President Obama Change the Subject?You’re reading this
    3. 44:38George W. Bush's Take on His Presidency
    Back to To the Point