Obama A Realist On Foreign Policy?

Over at the Weekly Standard, Michael Goldfarb notes that Barack Obama’s selection of his foreign policy team, both known and rumored, may be signaling that the president-elect intends to shape foreign policy from a center/realist perspective.

The selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Jim Jones (no, not that one) as National Security Advisor, Gates on Defense and continued counsel from Brent Scowcroft appears to have left progressives in the cold. What would be interesting to know is the extent of Biden’s influence in all of this.

I think progressives were initially excited with a few of Obama’s foreign policy stances (willingness to meet with despots without preconditions, unilateral withdrawal from Iraq, etc.). However, I’m not sure whether his positions on these issues were truly nuanced, or they were more a product of an inexperienced but ambitious politician playing to his base. As has been pointed out to me by others, Obama is an extraordinarily gifted politician – not that I’m insinuating that he’d say anything to get elected, but it is certainly a lot easier to “evolve” your position once you’re in office.

On the whole, I’m not totally disappointed with Obama’s choices to date – which is to say, it could be worse.