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    Back to Which Way, L.A.?

    Which Way, L.A.?

    Will a Sour Economy Trump Obama's Foreign Policy Victories?

    President Barack Obama's on a foreign policy roll: the death of Moammar Gadhafi, the assassinations of Anwar Awlaki in Yemen and Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Obama's withdrawal from Iraq and the successful NATO air campaign in Libya reaffirmed his credentials as a wartime leader.

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    KCRW placeholderBy Terrence McNally • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    President Barack Obama's on a foreign policy roll: the death of Moammar Gadhafi, the assassinations of Anwar Awlaki in Yemen and Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Obama's withdrawal from Iraq and the successful NATO air campaign in Libya reaffirmed his credentials as a wartime leader. But conventional wisdom holds that none of this will matter because his political fortunes will be determined by the US economy. How will voters weigh his foreign policy victories against a sour economy? Will Republican candidates still try to make the case that he's weak on national security?

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Will Obama's Foreign Policy Successes Help Him?
    1. 0:00LA County's Troubled Probation Department Gets a New Chief
    2. 9:37Will a Sour Economy Trump Obama's Foreign Policy Victories?You’re reading this
    3. 43:46Climate Change Skeptic's Talking Points Melt Away
    • KCRW placeholder

      Terrence McNally

      Host, 'Free Forum'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Frances Anderton

      architecture critic and author

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      Christian Bordal

      Managing Producer, Greater LA

    • 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

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      Michael Singh

      Managing director and senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

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      Spencer Ackerman

      Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of “Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump”

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      Robert Baer

      former CIA field officer and author

      News

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Will Obama's Foreign Policy Successes Help Him?
    1. 0:00LA County's Troubled Probation Department Gets a New Chief
    2. 9:37Will a Sour Economy Trump Obama's Foreign Policy Victories?You’re reading this
    3. 43:46Climate Change Skeptic's Talking Points Melt Away
    Back to Which Way, L.A.?