The chair of the House Intelligence Committee says the Obama administration has been slow to respond to the crisis in Ukraine because it has a “disjointed” approach to foreign policy and has not done the diplomatic legwork that is needed to strengthen the nation’s position.
Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican, said that the White House made the United States look weak when Germany came out against Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement that the G8 was prepared to level sanctions against Russia.
“The frustrating part of this is we have frayed our relationship in Europe with some of our key allies: Poland, the Czech Republican, even Germany in some cases,” Mr. Rogers told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday.
“You have to have them as solid allies as you move into a tension time like we are experiencing now,” he added.
“You can’t just deal with the diplomacy of the issue today. This needed to be a lead up to this event.”
Mr. Rogers likened the way the Obama administration has handled the unfolding events in Ukraine to the way 5-year-olds play soccer.
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“They all want to be where the ball is and it is more of a scrum than a soccer game, and we are finding that same problem here,” he said.”
“They will run to the problem and they don’t do any of the work leading up to it.”
“That has been what has been so frustrating to so many of us who take national security and foreign policy so seriously and are looking to work with the president to try to solve some of these problems.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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