Pres. Wilson and Pres. Obama: Many Similarities

There are many similarities between Presidents Wilson and Obama. The striking preponderance of the Ivy League academic background being foremost. What is the most intriguing is the strong conviction of their opinions. Once Pres. Wilson came to believe he was correct, no other opinion was tolerated, and in fact, those who held other views are demonized as being immoral or worse.

Pres. Wilson was famous for this. In the discussion or debate over Pres. Wilson's decision to go to Paris in 1919 for the peace conference, Republicans opposed this move (no President had never left the nation while in office, and it appeared to diminish the Sec. of State, who Pres. Wilson could barely tolerate), and the party included no Republicans (Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, Wilson's primary opponent, was an expert in foreign affairs). Former Pres. Roosevelt provided his own made-up Wilson quote:

"Ok, its 50-50, I'll go, you stay."

The current foreign affairs approach by the administration is driven by a President who appears to have formed his opinion, which can be the only correct opinion. This has resulted in policy drift, more notable on the biggest issues: Iran, China, North Korea. For no others seem to have been convinced of the correctness of the President's opinions, most clearly, Sec. of State Clinton.

Pres. Wilson's non-specific rhetoric about self-determination may have caused more harm than good, and his disastrous relations with the Senate (and the aforementioned Sen. Lodge) caused the failure of the US to sign on to the Versailles agreement and the League of Nations. This played a part in the US drawing back into an isolationist mode.

It would seem that the very poorly managed foreign policy of the US today may lead to a similar schism with the other western nations and, ultimately lead to another period of isolationism. With the expected results.