President outlines elements of ‘Obama Doctrine’

President Obama laid out Sunday what could be seen as the outline of an “Obama Doctrine,” or series of principles the president said he’s used to approach foreign relations.

Though Obama made clear that his principles were far from definitive, he said he’d approached his trips to Europe and Latin America with two principles.

First, Obama said, the U.S. must act multilaterally to solve world problems. And second, the U.S. must represent and live out its values in a consistent manner.

“The United States remains the most powerful, wealthy nation across the earth, but we’re only one nation,” Obama said, but “the problems can’t just be solved by one country.”

“The fact that a good idea comes from a small country like Costa Rica should not diminish that idea,” he said explaining the doctrine’s first principle.

On the second point, Obama said the U.S. must practice what it preaches.

“We do our best to promote our ideas and values by our example,” the president said in a Sunday afternoon press conference concluding the Summit of the Americas. “So if we are practicing what we preach, and if we confess to strying from our values and our ideals, that strengthens our hand.”