Help me find this anecdote about Obama

August 2, 2016 1:49 PM

I vaguely remember reading sometime in the last year or two an anecdote about President Obama's attitudes about military intervention. This was probably in a long form piece from the New Yorker, Atlantic, etc. Obama and advisors were considering intervention in the Middle East (Syria? Libya? Iraq?), and Obama asked his staff for an example of a successful military intervention in that region, and was met by silence. Anyone remember specifically what I'm talking about? I've been googling without success, which makes me think I have one or two of the details wrong.
posted by crazy with stars to Law & Government (3 answers total)

There was quite a lot in The Atlantic's The Obama Doctrine cover story about decisions involving military intervention.
posted by HonoriaGlossop at 2:36 PM on August 2, 2016

There was a discussion on Kevin Drum's blog in Mother Jones back in March on an article by Jeffrey Goldberg concerning Obama's foreign policy views on intervention. Hope that helps.
posted by coldhotel at 2:43 PM on August 2, 2016

Response by poster: great_radio comes the closest, but none of these are quite right. I suppose it's possible I invented the anecdote then. I'll leave this open in case someone does show up to prove me right after all.
posted by crazy with stars at 3:09 PM on September 2, 2016