Department of Government

Robert Lieber, professor of government and international affairs, on President Obama's rhetoric in comparison to that of President Bush on Asian and Middle Eastern Affairs:

“Every presidency starts off defining itself by trumpeting the opposite of whatever its predecessor did, and that’s been true in spades going from George W. Bush to Obama. But at a certain point that gets old, and we’re at a point where the overplayed ‘we’re not Bush’ mantra is raising anxieties among friends and allies in Asia and the Middle East.”