Obama struggles to change subject from foreign policy

President Obama can’t escape the topics of foreign policy and national security in 2014, two issues killing his approval ratings that are already dragging Democrats down in a tough midterm election year. 

Recent polls show more people disapprove of Obama’s job performance on foreign policy than approve by a wide margin.

{mosads}A poll by The Economist and YouGov in mid-September showed just 33 percent approve of his job on foreign policy, compared with 53 percent who disapprove. Other polls are even worse for the White House.

Those numbers are a concern to Democrats, who are desperate to see the White House pivot to other issues before the clock runs out. 

“It couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” one Democratic aide said of the fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has dominated recent political news cycles. “The base was already less than thrilled with the way the second term was going for Obama, and now this has come up. And there’s really very little time to try and change the subject.”

Democrats and observers expect Obama to hit the stump talking up domestic issues, particularly the rebound of the economy. 

But not even the White House bully pulpit can control global events, which have seen one foreign crisis after another make headlines this year. 

With the midterms drawing nearer, Obama will visit New York on Tuesday to call for the United Nations Security Council to impose a travel ban on foreign fighters seeking to join overseas wars. 

Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, said it would be “difficult” for Obama to pivot from the issue.

Zelizer said Obama’s “best bet is for him to focus on one, big tangible issue that he will fight for in 2015 and 2016, something that he can define the end of his presidency with.

“He has to make the base see that there is a huge difference, even with all the compromise, if Republicans or Democrats control the Senate,” he added.

At the White House on Monday, press secretary Josh Earnest brushed aside concerns that the president’s poor approval ratings on foreign policy were an anchor on Democrats, arguing those considerations were less important to Obama than national security.

Obama’s “top priority is going to be the safety and security of the American public,” Earnest said.

According to one senior administration official, the president never expected to hit the campaign trail until October, so recent world events did not scuttle plans to highlight his economic or campaign messages. 

The official also said the White House has been able to promote its agenda, despite international events in the past. In 2009, for example, headlines were dominated by the decision to surge troops to Afghanistan. But in the weeks following that announcement, Obama was able to broker a climate agreement and usher his signature healthcare law through Congress.

The official expressed confidence that there was still time for the president to highlight recent economic successes and additional steps the administration was taking on its domestic agenda — such as an announcement Monday evening tackling inversions, a financial maneuver in which U.S. companies merge with foreign corporations in a bid to avoid paying taxes. 

GOP critics argue Obama’s political problems on foreign policy are partly of his own making.

They argue he’s been too slow to react to developments overseas and that his decision to stay out of Syria’s civil war allowed ISIS to grow. 

When Obama asked Congress to approve airstrikes against Syria last year, however, most members of Congress and the public at large were opposed. 

Still, disagreements within the administration haven’t helped Obama. 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who many expect to run for the presidency in 2016, has sought to distance herself from Obama on Syria, arguing publicly that Obama’s decision to not arm Syrian rebel groups helped ISIS grow. 

In his new book, Worthy Fights, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also noted that he and Clinton, along with the director of the CIA and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged Obama to arm moderate Syrian groups. 

The last Democratic president before Obama, Bill Clinton, received high marks for his foreign policy. Although his foreign policy rating was at a low 37 percent at one point in 1995, it continued on a steady uptick after he sent U.S. troops to Bosnia on a peacekeeping mission, rising as high as 64 percent, according to Gallup.

Democratic strategist Jim Manley said Obama needs to pivot to domestic issues “as quickly as possible.” But, at the same time, Manley added, he can’t lose sight of the foreign policy picture.

“Given the threat posed, he doesn’t have a choice,” Manley said. “The country is facing a significant threat that needs to be addressed, and as part of that, he needs to guide the American people through his thought process.

“You gotta walk and chew gum at the same time,” he added. “He needs to continue to go on the road and sell the agenda, and there’s still time to do it.

But Manley cautioned, “It’s going to be difficult if the attacks pick up. If things heat up, despite the fact that we’re seven weeks out, he’s not going to get out of ignoring what’s going on overseas.”