Has The Financial Crisis Undermined U.S. Power?

How The Financial Crisis Has Undermined U.S. Power -- Time Magazine

When the White House announced its National Security Strategy last month, it titled it A Blueprint for Pursuing the World That We Seek. A better title might have been The Fun Is Definitely Over. The document used the phrase "hard choices" three times, called for "a disciplined approach to setting priorities" and predicted "trade-offs among competing programs and activities." The nature of those trade-offs was never spelled out, but the implication was clear: America doesn't have as much money and power as we once thought. We can no longer conduct foreign policy on a blank check.

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My Comment: The U.S. has the resources and monies to do a lot of things .... but the priorities and focus has changed, highlighted by the fact that the economic policies that have been championed by the Democrats since they took over Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008 are now recognized by most to be not working.

As a result .... if President Obama and his allies were given a choice .... pursue a vigorous foreign policy .... or .... focus more on the domestic front with even more social and economic engineering and structuring .... I believe that they will focus more at home. Cap and trade, moratoriums on off-shore oil drilling since the Louisiana oil disaster and using it to push for an alternative energy policy, financial regulation of Wall Street and control of credit markets, the Supreme Court, amnesty for illegal immigrants, another stimulus program to combat high unemployment .... the list is long and they all focus on changing the situation at home .... not abroad.

Everyone that I know in Europe, Asia .... even here in Canada .... we all see what is happening .... a U.S. that is retrenching and refusing to engage with most of the serious trouble spots in the world. Afghanistan is probably the last big hurrah for U.S. foreign policy .... but after that .... I have trouble seeing the U.S. engaging in any meaningful way unless it is with broad coalitions among our partners and alliances.

Time Magazine may put all the blame on the financial crisis for an anemic White House foreign policy, but truth be told the White House is focused on the biggest prize in the world .... and that is the United States of America.