In Diplomacy, Obama Aims To 'Hit Singles,' Not Swing For Fences

hide captionPresident Obama was at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig, Philippines, on Tuesday, during the last leg of his four-nation tour through the Asia-Pacific region.

President Obama was at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig, Philippines, on Tuesday, during the last leg of his four-nation tour through the Asia-Pacific region.

President Obama returned to Washington on Tuesday after a weeklong visit to Asia.

The four-nation tour was designed to showcase U.S. involvement in the region, but it produced only modest diplomatic developments. And toward the end of the trip, the president offered a modest assessment of his overall foreign policy.

The Asia trip didn't produce a blockbuster trade deal, or bring an end to North Korea's nuclear threat. The U.S. won a smaller-scale agreement to station military forces in the Philippines. And it polished its newfound ties with Malaysia. This is the kind of workaday diplomacy that President Obama says is not sexy but pays off in the long run.

"That may not always attract a lot of attention, and it doesn't make for good argument on Sunday morning shows. But it avoids errors. You hit singles; you hit doubles. Every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run. But we steadily advance the interests of the American people and our partnership with folks around the world."

The ongoing crisis in Ukraine cast a shadow over the trip. Having watched Russia annex Crimea with only limited challenge from the West, Asian allies wanted reassurance the U.S. will support them against any aggressive moves by China. Congressional Republicans, like Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, have criticized what they say is the administration's tepid response to Russia's moves in Ukraine.

"I'm very concerned that as we've seen from this administration on so many tough issues, their policies are always late after, after the point in time when we could have made a difference in the outcome," Corker said on CBS.

Obama suggests his critics are really calling for a stronger military response, and argues they haven't learned the lessons of the Iraq War:

"Frankly, most of the foreign-policy commentators that have questioned our policies would go headlong into a bunch of military adventures that the American people have no interest in participating in and would not advance our core security interests."

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In Diplomacy, Obama Aims To 'Hit Singles,' Not Swing For Fences