Obama, not Trump, Unmasked the True Face of US Empire
After the veil of US imperialism remained intact during Bush's reign of terror, it was Obama's moral failures that should have served as a wake-up call to the true nature of American power.
Many see Donald Trump as ushering in the moment the US empire shed its facade of virtue, the first president brazen enough to dispense with pretense and show its true malignancy. But for the vigilant, its mask had slipped long ago. Keen observers like Noam Chomsky had always seen through the deception. For most, though, awakening came slowly—too slowly.
Even George W. Bush’s war on terror failed to unmask imperialism as it was. Instead, it was artfully shrouded as a just war for democracy, a "good vs. evil” morality tale tapping into post-9/11 trauma. A media fixated on harrowing images of the attacks fostered mass indoctrination, a mesmerized public seeing inherent evil in Bush’s "axis of evil”: the Muslim Middle East.
The real unmasking should have come under Obama, who ran on "hope and change” only to betray that vision when it mattered most. Upon election, his inspiring words and very person seemed a salve for the cynical realism and xenophobia of the Bush era. But for those watching closely, Obama's lofty rhetoric rang hollow beside policies that propped up tyrants and snuffed out dissent with barely a cursory second thought. Obama's complicity in crushing Arab democracy movements revealed an empire willing to betray any principle to rule through strongmen and puppets.
The Arab Spring's Promise for Change
The Arab Spring uprising began with youth-led movements calling for democratic reforms, free elections, and modernization across the region. For a moment, it seemed as though these demands would be realized and the Middle East would begin the difficult but hopeful march towards democracy. As protests spread from Tunisia to Egypt, Libya, and beyond, the world looked to America and President Obama, who had campaigned on the promise of spreading democratic values. There was a sense of possibility, as for the first time, democratic principles seemed within reach for generations of Arab citizens living under autocratic rule.
The reality that followed was far more sobering. The momentum driving the democracy movements began to fracture under numerous pressures. Dictators and monarchs turned protests into chaotic unrest, civil war engulfed parts of Libya and Syria, and the governing bodies that replaced former leaders struggled with legitimacy.
Indeed, we must not forget that the institutions and principles required in new democracies often take years—or even longer—to establish. However, the "international community" (i.e., the West), already burdened by two military conflicts, had little appetite for the time, patience, or investment needed to see real democratic transitions through.
Nowhere was this gap between aspiration and action more apparent than in Egypt. After 30 years of corrupt autocracy under Hosni Mubarak, the mass protest movement of Tahrir Square seemed to fulfill the promise of people power, at least for a time. They successfully bid the old regime farewell. But in its place, a power struggle emerged between Mubarak's entrenched military and the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood.
With limited democratic experience, both struggled to build consensus or trust. Once Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood took power, their own authoritarian tendencies, expressed by the increasing consolidation of control, alarmed both secular liberals and the military elite. When another popular protest movement rose in response, the military, under Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, took the opportunity to seize control and later have el-Sisi elected president himself. The democratic opening proved too frail to survive.
Then There Was Obama.
Obama took office promising a new approach centered on democratic values and "hope and change." But when the Arab Spring erupted, his high-minded rhetoric proved empty. The administration's response was defined not by moral principle but political expedience. There were no serious efforts to aid reformers or pressure autocrats to enact real reforms. When a military coup ousted Egypt's elected president Morsi, Obama refused to even call it a coup, declaring: "We are not aligned with, nor do we support, any particular political party or group." His platitudes about democracy and human rights stood in bitter irony as peaceful protesters were mowed down in the streets of Cairo.
A former aide recounted how Obama asked what policy options they had: "'Well, so we're not going to declare the coup a coup, so what should we do?' I was totally taken aback." Rather than stand up for democracy, Obama chose to placate the Egyptian military – a longstanding US ally and recipient of billions in annual aid.
Nothing illustrates this moral failing better than the president's purported private comments, in which he humorously stated, "All I need in the Middle East is a few smart autocrats," and pondered, "Why can't people in the Middle East be more like the Scandinavians?" To become a society like Scandinavia, you need to allow the messy process of democratization to take root instead of actively trying to halt it by supporting autocrats. Furthermore, the president's words contain a troubling but, perhaps, truthful insinuation: that the seemingly perfect and idolized democracies in Scandinavia are actually run by smart autocrats, who cleverly maintain a facade of democratic governance while pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
By the time hopes for reform descended into disarray, it was clear the Arab Spring would not be permitted to flourish. The story was tragedy and opportunity forsaken. Obama's grand rhetoric seemed wildly out of step with his sheer lack of vision, leadership and outright bad intentions. His complicity in crushing Egypt's democracy will remain a moral stain, demonstrating how readily the US will betray its principles to pursue selfish goals. The tragedy was not that change came slowly, but that it stood no chance against Western hypocrisy.
In addition to the debacle in Egypt, Libya stands as another tragic testament to the aggressive and destructive policies of the Obama administration. As Gaddafi's regime crumbled, NATO's intervention, led by the US, seemed to herald a new dawn for Libya. However, it was not a humanitarian mission, but a calculated political and economic move to eliminate a leader who threatened US hegemony with his proposals for a reintegration of all Arab countries into a united collective and the establishment of a new African currency. Under Obama's watch, the US and its allies actively bombed and dismantled a nation that was once prosperous, plunging it into chaos and darkness.
The lack of foresight, planning, and commitment to rebuilding the shattered nation led to a brutal civil war, the rise of extremist groups, and the horrifying resurgence of open slave markets. The Obama administration and its NATO allies chose to act with force and assert their dominance, rather than engage in diplomacy and support a peaceful transition. In the process, they set back Libya to a state of disarray reminiscent of the Stone Age.
And let us not forget one of Obama's boldest promises: to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, a symbol of American hypocrisy, where detainees languished without charge or trial, subjected to torture and rape, and denied basic human rights. Yet, despite the urgency of his commitment, Guantanamo remained open throughout his presidency, casting a long shadow over his attempts to portray the US as a champion of human rights. The continued existence of this blight on America's moral standing served as a reminder of the nation's double standards, where lofty rhetoric routinely crumbled beneath the weight of pragmatism and expedience.
Obama's tragic failures should have unmasked an empire hiding malevolence behind eloquence and principle pretense. Instead, he pens autobiography after autobiography as all around him still nurture his narcissism through blind devotion. The Arab Spring remains a reminder of how easily the struggle for democracy and human rights can be crushed when doubt and hard-nosed realism plague would-be allies. Obama dealt a blow not just to Egypt but to us all who still seek freedom under oppressors' rule. His failure will stand as a symbol of US foreign policy that preaches human rights but supports no such ideal.