The Economist’s latest cover features President Barack Obama in a air force flight suit with the headline “Mission relaunched” — a clear reference to the time President George W. Bush declared on an air craft carrier in a flight suit that major combat operations in Iraq had ended.
The accompanying story to the cover argues that Obama’s moves to fight the fighter of the Islamic State have been a “test that he has been failing until now.”
“A president who has always seen his main mission as nation-building at home is now using military force in six countries — Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia,” the piece said.
Then The Economist moves toward over all American foreign policy through Bush’s ‘Mission Accomplished” speech.
“Its rise has also reflected American policy,” The Economist said. “First, the poorly thought-out intervention of George W. Bush, typified by the rash ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner that greeted him on the USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 after his invasion of Iraq.”
The piece does not simply criticize Obama. It praises Obama for getting “the diplomacy right” on fighting ISIL. But then concludes that there’s still more Obama could be doing.
See the full cover below:
