Cultural Limits posted: " Obama's foreign policy - the politics of
wishful thinking Now that Vladimir Putin is showing the world what a
headstrong thug is capable of doing when no other leader is willing to deny
him, it's time to look to yesteryear and the express wishes of the" Respond
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New post on *Rat Nation*
<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/author/mynewpolitics/> The World Wanted
Obama Because He Isn't George W. Bush. How's That Working
Out?<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/the-world-wanted-obama-because-he-isnt-george-w-bush-hows-that-working-out/>
by
Cultural Limits <http://mikesright.wordpress.com/author/mynewpolitics/>
[image:
Obama-unicorn-rainbow]<http://mikesright.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/obama-unicorn-rainbow.jpg>
*Obama's foreign policy - the politics of wishful thinking*
Now that Vladimir Putin is showing the world what a headstrong thug is
capable of doing when no other leader is willing to deny him, it's time to
look to yesteryear and the express wishes of the world for who should win
the 2008 and 2012 US presidential elections.
The world pretty unequivocally all but begged the American people to elect
Barack Obama because, according to articles written at the time, he wasn't
George W. Bush. The most ridiculous of the lot comes from "Why the World
Wants Obama" by some moonbat at Foreign Policy
Blogs<http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/08/16/why-the-world-wants-obama/>
:
First, foreign audiences perceive Senator Obama as giving them what they
want' a change in US policy. Those people around the world who support
Senator Obama believe his promise of change' and want him to make good on
it.
*Explain again why the American people should care what foreign audiences
want in an American president? We elect such people to represent OUR
interests, not theirs. We expect the people of other countries to do the
same. And change for the sake of change with no decent reasoning as to why
just gets mass confusion.*
The second factor flows from the first: Senator Obama is, plain and simple,
not George W. Bush. Then again, neither is John McCain. But thanks to the
American political spectrum being so narrow, it's safe to say that Senator
Obama represents the antithesis of the current President.
*Oh, he's the antithesis alright. George W. Bush, for all his failings, at
least has a spine. Barack Obama has a wet noodle where vertebrae should
be.*
But there's more:
First is the symbolism of electing an African American President. To elect
Obama would paint American society as mature and tolerant. It would
demonstrate that the American public possesses qualities that people abroad
want it to posses (which are, not coincidentally, qualities that American
society itself claims to posses).
*This is relevant to electing a leader because.... Leaders should be strong,
smart and able, not symbolic.*
Second, electing Senator Obama could reaffirm foreign publics' faith in
another element of American society: its ability to reason. Back in 2004,
to many people abroad, Americans failed to choose the right candidate. Many
abroad didn't like George W. Bush even in 2000, and chuckled at the irony
that a few dimpled chads prevented even a great democracy such as the US's
from holding a fair election.
*Reason? In 2004 we elected George W. Bush over John Kerry, and the world
is now finding out why. As Secretary of State he's embarrassing us worse
than Obama is W might be a bit of an asshole to some, but he got the job
done or advanced on the foreign policy front whether we approved of his
methods or not. John Kerry is an idiot.*
Then, after President Bush started a war in Iraq for what seemed to them
like all the wrong reasons, people abroad thought surely Americans will
take the opportunity in 2004 to vote in a new president. When Americans
re-elected Bush, to a certain degree foreign publics lost faith in the
American people to make good choices.
*Again, why are we supposed to care what people in foreign countries think
about who we elect as president?*
In this way, if Americans in 2008 end up electing the candidate that
foreign publics see as the "right" choice, Americans could be seen as
rational again. And, given the degree to which the US stands to affect
their lives, they certainly want to believe Americans are rational.
*A good many of us are far more rational than the western Europeans, at
least, might think. Barack Obama did not win the popular vote. Just the
Electoral College - and largely because he won certain states.*
My final theory on why the world wants Obama is the most mystical of all.
Senator Obama's hybrid, international, identity seems to magically appeal
to people all over the world all at the same time' without even trying. His
international upbringing makes him into a chameleon, from which foreign
publics can pick and choose which "Obama" they identify with most' the
Muslim, Asian, or African, etc. The monkey idol key chain is a great
example<http://publicdiplomacy.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/06/23/bhamaforobama-and-the-monkey-idol/>of
this phenomenon.
Okay, let's get something straight about the office of President of the
United States of America. Our Founding Fathers, a forward thinking bunch,
knew that the best interests of the country would be served with a leader
who was loyal to the country due to love. This is why all US presidents
elected since 1826 have had to be born on US soil. The "chameleon" status
praised by the dingbat author is decidedly UNAMERICAN. Presidents should
be identifiable as being American, not Muslim or Asian or African, because
that is the defining characteristic of the country.
But that's not all. In 2012, the world STILL wanted Obama over Mitt
Romney<http://news.yahoo.com/why-world-wants-obama-win-094500188--election.html>.
Why?
*Obama's foreign policy works*
Overseas, the president has an undeniably strong record, says Jeffrey
Simpson at Canada's Globe and
Mail<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/mix-of-muscularity-and-restraint-a-boon-for-obamas-foreign-policy/article4632387/>.
Obama has shown he's capable of "mixing muscularity with restraint,"
extricating the U.S. from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, avoiding direct
intervention in Syria, and resisting "the push to recklessly attack Iran" --
all while relentlessly going after terrorists and playing a limited but key
role in forcing regime change in Libya. Meanwhile, the world sees Romney
displaying "the hubris of the powerful and the ignorance of the
uninformed," thumping his chest and scaring folks overseas.
*Obama's foreign policy worked for who? Definitely not the USA, and he was
elected to represent us, not placate the world. The world prefers a wimp
in the Oval Office, apparently. And now we see that Romney was right about
some potential international dangers.*
*The world is associating Romney with Bush*
In many ways, this isn't really a reflection on Romney, says Max Fisher at
The Washington
Post<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/10/23/poll-finds-20-of-21-countries-strongly-prefer-obama-exception-pakistan/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost>.
In Pakistan, for example, people aren't embracing Romney so much as
protesting Obama's drone program in areas near the Afghan border. And more
broadly, Romney's overseas poll numbers "are consistent with [Sen. John]
McCain's in 2008, suggesting the possibility that many foreign publics
associate Republicans with George W. Bush, whose administration was deeply
unpopular abroad."
*"Anybody but Bush" infected the people overseas? And that extended to the
entire party. Even we luddite Americans know better than that.*
*Soaking the rich is popular overseas*
The fact that France is more pro-Obama than anyone else says it all, says
Matthew Balan at News
Busters<http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2012/10/23/npr-ballyhoos-blowout-obama-if-world-had-its-say#ixzz2ADlPeaKu>.
France is a leftist nanny state, and socialist President Francois Hollande
is trying to slap a 75 percent marginal income tax on people earning more
than 1 million euros a year, a move the Heritage Foundation's Nile Gardiner
called "economic suicide." Such proposals "line up nicely with the
president's platform." No wonder he polls so well there.
*Obama polls well in socialist states. Gee, imagine that. Never mind that
"soaking the rich" never works and frequently backfires.*
As for what the world sought from a second Obama term in office, the
HufflePuffs
had a list of wishful
thinking<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-sabloff/obama-international-expectations_b_2503132.html>
:
When it comes to the economy, the main political parties in the UK are
closely watching the path out of the recession that Obama is trying to
chart between austerity and stimulus, in hopes of proving that their fiscal
policies will be vindicated by the public as the right ones. "To be
economically credible in Westminster, it seems, is to be aligned with
Barack
Obama,"writes<http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/18/obama-uk-economy_n_2439338.html>UK
Political Director Mehdi Hasan. Meanwhile, as HuffPost France's
Geoffroy
Clavelreports<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/obama-france_n_2467012.html>,
"Paris relies on Washington to set the tone for a growth policy that would
turn its back" on austerity measures.
On the U.S. domestic front, Canadians are looking to Obama to approve
TransCanada's controversial Keystone XL pipeline while also engaging in
greater stewardship on the environment,
says<http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/18/obama-canada-oil-environment_n_2467978.html>Canada
Business Reporter Sunny Freeman, even though those goals are
somewhat contradictory. For Spain, Obama's pledge to expand America's
development of renewable energy presents an economic opportunity for the
struggling country, as Spanish companies have invested heavily in U.S.
projects in recent years,
writes<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/obama-spain-energy_n_2496471.html>HuffPost
Spain's Daniel Basteiro.
Regarding foreign policy, HuffPost Italy readers are
hoping<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/obama-italy_n_2472036.html>that
the president can show greater courage on issues ranging from the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Guantanamo to Afghanistan, while on a more
local level, Dina Rickman
reports<http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/18/obama-uk-extradition_n_2437886.html>that
many Brits would like to see Obama take action on reforming the
process established by the U.S.-UK Extradition Act, which allows for the
extradition of UK citizens for breaking U.S. laws.
As Obama begins his second term, these articles, and the issues they raise,
are a reminder that the world beyond America's shores has a stake in the
road ahead, and that our leaders, in turn, have an obligation to try to
meet these expectations.
*And rainbows and unicorns accompanied the worst winter in the United
States in years. How much of this actually worked out for US, let alone
the rest of world. HINT: it didn't.*
Well, world, international community - whatever we are calling it these
days - you got the O-man for five years with a little less than three to go.
How's that working out for ya?
*Cultural Limits
<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/author/mynewpolitics/>*| March 3,
2014 at 9:09 pm | Tags: 2008
presidential
election<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=2008-presidential-election>,
2012 presidential
election<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=2012-presidential-election>,
citizen of the world<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=citizen-of-the-world>,
crimea <http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=crimea>, foreign
policy<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=foreign-policy>,
George W. Bush <http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=george-w-bush>, Huffington
Posts <http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=huffington-posts>,
Iran<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=iran>,
iraw <http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=iraw>, John
Kerry<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=john-kerry>,
rainbows and
unicorns<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=rainbows-and-unicorns>,
secretary of state <http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=secretary-of-state>,
Syria <http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=syria>,
ukraine<http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=ukraine>,
Vladimir Putin <http://mikesright.wordpress.com/?tag=vladimir-putin> |
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