Obama stands aloof from America's four foreign policy positions

Which of Mead’s other three traditions has Obama followed?

Certainly not the Hamiltonian tradition, named for Alexander Hamilton, which seeks to make the world safe for American commerce, accepts amoral concepts like national interest and balance of power and is willing to use force in morally ambiguous situations.

Obama has been willing to let Pacific and Atlantic trade negotiations languish in order to placate labor unions nostalgic for long-gone steel and automotive jobs. He invokes but does not imitate the supposed “realism” of George H.W. Bush. He has allowed the budget sequester to hollow out American military forces.

One might expect Obama to embrace a Wilsonian affection for international institutions and respect for international law. Many Democrats criticized George W. Bush for ignoring them. As a presidential candidate, Secretary of State John Kerry disparaged the “trumped up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and the extorted.”