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Politics and Policy Obama Defends U.S. Policy Based Less on Military Might At West Point Commencement, President Lays Out New Criteria for Military Deployment By Carol E. Lee connect Updated May 28, 2014 8:49 p.m. ET WEST POINT, N.Y.—President Barack Obama sought on Wednesday to define how to project American power: Not necessarily by major deployments of American forces, but rather through targeted operations, diplomacy and aid. Mr. Obama's address to graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point marked the start of his campaign to counter critics of his foreign policy doctrine and blunt charges, chiefly by...

Following President Barack Obama's speech today at West Point, the UK Daily Mail reported "tepid applause and a short standing ovation from less than one-quarter of the audience upon his introduction." In a CNN video clip found at Mediaite, Jim Clancy noted that Obama did not sound like a “commander-in-chief speaking to his troops.” He further observed: “You heard the reception; it was icy." The video posted at the White House's web site doesn't include the reception Obama received when he was introduced. There's a reason for that. The first 14 seconds of a Reuters video clip (HT Nice Deb)...

CNN) -- pRresident Barack Obama on Wednesday outlined a foreign policy vision of "might doing right," arguing that modern pragmatism requires both a strong military and the diplomatic tools of alliances and sanctions to exert influence and provide global leadership. He told graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point that after the nation's "long season of war and divisions about how to move forward," they now would represent America with the duty "not only to protect our country, but to do what is right and just." Watch this video Obama outlines foreign policy vision Under fire from...

'I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being,' the president insisted Yet he used the words 'partner' and 'partnership' 16 times in his speech at West Point, outlining a contradictory foreign policyObama replaced the phrase 'collective action' – in his prepared remarks – with the words 'multilateral action' several timesWorking through NATO and the UN will dominate American foreign policy, Obama said: 'This is American leadership, American strength'

Obama’s “philosophical” speech to the 2014 graduates of West Point about a new direction for America’s foreign policy was “not a great” speech for that audience, said CNN anchor Jim Clancy on Wednesday. He said that the president did not sound like a “commander-in-chief speaking to his troops” and got an “icy reception” as a result...

Confronting critics of his foreign policy, President Barack Obama will soon outline a strategy for his final years in office that aims to avoid overreach as the second of the two wars he inherited comes to a close. The president will make the case for that seemingly more limited approach during a commencement address Wednesday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The speech will come amid growing frustration in the White House with Republicans and other critics who contend that Obama has weakened America’s standing around the world and faltered on problems across the Middle East and in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stung by criticism, President Barack Obama will use a speech on Wednesday to launch a sweeping defense of his approach to foreign policy, one that he will say is reliant on multilateral diplomacy instead of military interventions. Obama is to deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, the first in a series of speeches that he and top advisers will use to explain U.S. foreign policy in the aftermath of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and lay out a broad vision for the rest of his presidency. Obama has come...

In a sign of respect, cadets from the United State Military Academy at West Point removed their shoes and military caps as they entered the Muslim Federation of New Jersey in Jersey City this afternoon. --The cadets began their three-day cultural field trip Thursday. Before they end their journey tomorrow, the cadets will have visited Egyptian churches, various mosques and Islamic centers, Jewish synagogues, Mormon communities and more.

On Dec. 15, shortly after Army football’s 12th consecutive loss to the U.S. Naval Academy, the superintendent of West Point, Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen , announced that he was considering institutional changes to build a winning program. “When America puts its sons and daughters in harm’s way, they do not expect us to just ‘do our best’ . . . but to win,” he wrote. “Nothing short of victory is acceptable. . . . Our core values are Duty, Honor, Country. Winning makes them real.”

The Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans will again sponsor their annual Robert E. Lee Birthday Commemorative on Saturday January 18, 2014 at the Old Capitol Building, 201 E. Greene St., Milledgeville, Georgia.

WEST POINT, N.Y. Two West Point graduates were married Saturday in the military academy's first wedding between two men. Larry Choate III, class of 2009, married Daniel Lennox, class of 2007, before about 20 guests. Choate, 27, taught Sunday school at the U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel and said he always thought of it as the place he would get married if he could. West Point hosted two same-sex weddings of women in late 2012, more than a year after New York legalized same-sex marriage. But Saturday's wedding was the first time two men wed at West Point.

Some classes at West Point are being combined or canceled and military faculty members are being forced to fill in for civilian instructors furloughed because of the government shutdown, academy officials said Thursday. The academy furloughed 1,422 civilian employees this week, including 132 faculty members. …

A West Point Academy staff member faces charges after being accused of videotaping female cadets in their showers and locker rooms, Pentagon officials said. Sgt. 1st Class Michael McClendon allegedly planted cameras in the facilities and recorded the women without their knowledge, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The West Point Marathon team is OK and no one was injured. From a proud West Point Dad

If there was one thing I learned during my brief time in the United States Army, it is that you never - under any circumstances - attempt to eat food outside of chow. As not only is it considered an act of disobedience towards your superiors, but also an act of theft, and arguably worse, a violation of the Army Values. Such an action would have landed your entire company (God help the unfortunate bastards) in contempt by the drill sergeants, and as a result - your branding as a Gomer Pyle, Blue Falcon or perhaps even the rightly received...

The world is beset by terrorists — witness the American hostages taken in Algeria this week — but portions of our federal government continue to obsess about alleged home-grown threats from the “far right.”The Combating Terrorism Center, which is based at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, has issued a new report on its website entitled“Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right.”Normally, the center’s activities are focused on al-Qaeda and other violent Islamic groups seeking to topple governments around the world. But the latest report looks inside America itself, and if the center is to be judged...

As the world watched the solemn state funeral for former President Gerald Ford on television, the family and friends of Maj. Gen. Guy C. Swan III were especially proud of the man in charge of those ceremonies. Swan, who grew up in Wayne, was the military escort for Betty Ford at the funeral ceremonies in California and in the nation's capital, where he is the commander of the Military District of Washington. "We're proud of the way he's handling himself," Swan's father, Guy Jr., who now lives in the Cedar Crest retirement village in Pequannock, said Sunday. "He seemed to...

A West Point think tank has issued a paper warning America about “far right” groups such as the “anti-federalist” movement, which supports “civil activism, individual freedoms and self-government.” The report issued this week by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., is titled “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right.” Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/17/west-point-center-cites-dangers-far-right-us/#ixzz2ILS1AwgH Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

A West Point think tank has issued a paper warning America about “far right” groups such as the “anti-federalist” movement, which supports “civil activism, individual freedoms and self-government.” The report issued this week by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., is titled “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right.” The center — part of the institution where men and women are molded into Army officers — posted the report Tuesday. It lumps limited government activists with three movements it identifies as “a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement and a fundamentalist movement.”...

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys sent a letter to the United States Military Academy this week explaining why, contrary to the complaints of a group that advocates for church-state separation, they believe invocations should continue to be said at certain West Point events. "The First Amendment allows public officials to acknowledge our nation's religious heritage," said David Hacker, ADF senior legal counsel, in a statement. "Since the Revolution, the U.S. Army has offered soldiers the opportunity to hear invocations. West Point has continued this tradition since its founding in 1802. Anti-religious groups with misguided ideas about the First Amendment should not...