Will next U.S. president be a hawk?

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla – Getty Images)

I don’t know who is going to be elected president of the United States in 2016, but I can tell you this: he or she will be much more hawkish than President Barack Obama.

You don’t have to be a political scientist to conclude that, justifiably or not, there is a growing perception in the U.S. electorate that Obama has gone overboard in his effort to differentiate himself from George W. Bush’s cowboy diplomacy.

There is a widespread feeling that Russia, China, Iran and other U.S. adversaries are gaining ground at Washington’s expense.

It’s not just the usual crowd of Republican foreign policy hard-liners or newcomers like Donald Trump who are accusing Obama of being soft on almost every foreign policy issue. Even many of us who generally support Obama, especially on domestic issues, are watching his foreign policy with growing angst.

Obama himself seemed to be recognizing this generalized anxiety last week, when he announced that — contrary to his previous decision — he will halt the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and leave thousands of troops there until the end of his term in 2017. It seemed to be a tacit admission that his doctrine of restraint and “strategic patience” has not always worked in America’s favor.

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