Saturday, June 19, 2010

How The World Sees President Obama -- A Commentary


World Sees Obama As Incompetent And Amateur -- Mort Zuckerman, U.S. News And World Report

The president is well-intentioned but can't walk the walk on the world stage.

President Obama came into office as the heir to a great foreign policy legacy enjoyed by every recent U.S. president. Why? Because the United States stands on top of the power ladder, not necessarily as the dominant power, but certainly as the leading one. As such we are the sole nation capable of exercising global leadership on a whole range of international issues from security, trade, and climate to counterterrorism. We also benefit from the fact that most countries distrust the United States far less than they distrust one another, so we uniquely have the power to build coalitions. As a result, most of the world still looks to Washington for help in their region and protection against potential regional threats.

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My Comment: Another liberal pundit throwing President Obama under the bus.

As a Canadian whose nationality is Russian and who has lived in China, I can only give my own impression of what people in these countries are saying. In China .... President Obama and his government is treated with disdain (in the media, public announcements, and around the dinner table). He is perceived as a colored man, a racial distinction that many in China feel very uncomfortable with (yes .... racism does exist in China), but what makes the situation even worse is that President Obama's administration is following a policy of economics that is discredited in China. High spending, enormous deficits, bigger government .... this may be the trend in the U.S., but in China (an ex-communist country .... yes .... I am saying an ex-communist country) this is frowned upon. Throw in China's own problems .... President Obama then becomes the perfect bogeyman.

Russia is slightly more complicated. They are not in competition with the U.S., but leaders like Russia's Putin have made their opinions very clear .... they do not understand President Obama's economic policy, and they feel that The U.S. has abdicated certain important international relationships and understandings. Missile defense in Eastern Europe, sanctions and hostility towards Iran, support for Georgia, permitting Afghanistan's drug lords to produce and ship heroin to Russia and other satellite countries .... Russia perceives this as a wrong strategy, and what is worse is that unlike President Bush, President Obama is not listening to them. Even President Obama's roasting of BP and the disaster that BP has caused in the Gulf of Mexico is producing comment in Russia .... BP is the #1 foreign oil company that operates in Russia. Their participation in opening and developing new oil fields is regarded to be crucial for Russia's long term oil strategic needs, and any action that will impact this development is viewed with alarm and suspicion in Moscow.

As to Canada .... the honeymoon is over. A buy U.S. policy (and not Canadian) violates important free trade agreements between the two countries. President Obama's pursuit of policies that have failed in Canada has also produced a "roll of the eyes" response from many in this country. Universal medicare, government intervention in the economy and into our everyday lives, high taxes .... as Canadians we have bought the t-shirt more than once, and we have always been disappointed.

As to what is my take .... I think President Obama is focused on what he perceives is really the number one issue .... transforming the U.S. into what he perceives it should be. As to foreign policy .... it is there but for him it is not the priority. Hence .... disappointment abroad .... but he is doing exactly what he said he would do in his books and during the presidential campaign .... focus on the biggest prize of them all .... the U.S.A.

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