Obama’s Idealists

American Power in Theory and Practice

By Peter Beinart

In his review of three new memoirs by former Obama advisers Susan Rice, Samantha Power, and Ben Rhodes, Peter Beinart argues that the initial idealism and later disillusionment of the Obama era may have paved the way for the Trump administration's decision to turn inward and abandon responsibility to defend human rights abroad. If policymakers do not engage in serious discussion about failed U.S. interventions, Beinart asks, where does that leave the debate about U.S. action that challenges another country's sovereignty in the name of human rights?

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