President Obama arrives for a commencement ceremony at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, May 28, 2014. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
On Wednesday, President Obama delivered the commencement address to graduating cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point, using the occasion to articulate his vision for America’s role in world affairs. “This speech had different audiences,” says Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel. “He was trying to thread the needle between hyper-interventionists and isolationists and was speaking to a war-weary public.” Appearing here on The Diane Rehm Show with Poltico editor Micahel Hirsh and Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution, vanden Heuvel says that while the president did give a nod to international law and the need to exercise restraint in the use of military power, the speech did “not so much signal the end of military misadventurism as direct it towards a new arena in fresh packaging,” his proposed $5 billion Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund being a case in point.
To listen to the entire conversation, visit The Diane Rehm Show here.
—David Kortava
Katrina vanden HeuvelTwitterKatrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. She served as editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2019.