White House officials reject the notion that Obama can only show strength by launching military action and argue that economic sanctions are proving to be a deterrent to Russia. They also cast the chemical weapons agreement with Syrian as a sweeping success, even if it has done little to end a civil war there that has left more than 150,000 people dead.
White House officials say Obama will also address the U.S. response to those issues during his West Point speech, as well as during an upcoming trip to Europe.
“What we want to do is step back and put all of these different events into the context of how does America lead in the world and how do we strike that balance between not getting overextended as we were in Iraq, but ensuring that we are leading coalitions of nations, leading the international community on different issues,” Rhodes said.