Senator Corker Accuses Obama Of Trying To Get Out Of Middle East

As far as accusations go this is one of the ones an American politician wants to be on the receiving end of. Senator Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN) has publicly accused President Barack Obama of trying to get America out of the Middle East.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Senator Corker said he believed President Obama's grand strategy was to get America out of the Middle East entirely. Corker speculated that this would be achieved by the US empowering Iran to provide a balance to Sunni power in the region while distancing itself from Israel which would allow the US to remove itself from the middle of the conflict and ultimately the region as a whole.

Sounds like a pretty good idea.

“It’s become very evident as to what the administration is doing relative to the Middle East,” Corker said. “The administration’s view is that in order to extract ourselves in the Middle East, we need to move away from our relationship from Israel and we need to more fully align ourselves with Iran, so we create this balance in the Middle East between Iran and its influence and the Arab Sunni influence in the region.” He added: “That seems to be our strategy. And that’s what’s creating all of this turmoil in the region.”

Unfortunately, as anyone who has watched a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting will easily deduce, Corker has no clue what he is talking about.

To credit President Obama with even having a grand strategy is foolish., let alone one so profound. From the divisive drone program in Yemen, to the Libyan nightmare, to arms dealing with the new Egyptian junta, to perpetual 180s on who the enemy in Syria really is, Obama has proven that there is no "plan" just a series of ad hoc PR campaigns - what one commentator called "rice pudding."

That being said, if Team Obama wants to adopt a grand strategy for the Middle East it would seem prudent to give the one Corker laid out serious consideration.