President Barack Obama talks on the phone with NASA astronaut Commander Scott Kelly upon his return from a nearly yearlong mission on the International Space Station, in the Oval Office, March 2, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Does President Obama Really Have a Foreign Policy “Grand Strategy?” One Insider Explains.


derek cholletDerek Chollet is the author of the new book The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America’s
Role in the World.

Derek served in a number of foreign policy positions in the Obama administration, including in the National Security Council, State Department and finally as an assistant secretary of defense for international security so this book serves, very much, as an insider’s assessment of 7 years of Obama’s foreign policy.

We kick off with an extended discussion about his book and Obama’s foreign policy more broadly before pivoting to a conversation about Derek’s fascinating career path from a college town in Nebraska to the highest reaches of US foreign policy making.