Obama Has Lost The World
Written by: Daniel Greenfield
December 26, 2010After the 2010 elections, it’s not exactly news that Obama has lost America. But in a less public referendum, he also lost the world. Obama’s cocktail party tour of the world’s capitals may look impressive on a map, but is irrelevant on a policy level. In less than two years, the White House has gone from being the center of world leadership to being irrelevant, from protecting world freedom to serving as a global party planning committee.
Even the Bush Administration’s harshest critics could never have credibly claimed that George W. Bush was irrelevant. He might have been hated, pilloried and shouted about– but he couldn’t be ignored. However Obama can be safely ignored. Invited to parties, given the chance to show off his cosmopolitan sophisticated by reciting one or two words in the local lingo, read off a teleprompter, along with some cant about the need for everyone to pull together and make the world a better place, and then dismissed for the rest of the evening.
As a world leader, he makes a passable party guest. He has a broad smile, brings along his own gifts and is famous in the way that celebrities, rather than prime ministers and presidents are famous. On an invitation list, he is more Bono than Sarkozy, Leonardo DiCaprio not Putin. You don’t invite him to talk turkey, not even on Thanksgiving. He’s just one of those famous people with a passing interest in politics who gets good media attention, but who has nothing worthwhile to say.
The only countries who take Obama seriously, are the ones who have to. The leaders of Great Britain, Israel and Japan– who have tied their countries to an enduring alliance with America based on mutual interests and values, only to discover that the latest fellow to sit behind the Oval Office desk no longer shares those values and couldn’t give less of a damn about American interests. It’s no wonder that European leaders ignore him as much as possible. Or that Netanyahu visited America, while Obama was abroad. Or that Japanese politics have become dangerously unstable.
On the enemy side, the growing aggressiveness of China, North Korea, Iran, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda can all be attributed to the global consensus that no one is at home in the White House.And if no one is at home in the White House, then that’s a perfect time to slap the big boy around the yard. China is doing it economically, the rest are doing it militarily. They’re all on board with Obama’s Post-American vision of the world. But unlike him and most liberals, they have a clear understanding of what that means. The America of some years back, which actually intimidated Libyan dictator Khaddafi into giving up his nuclear program, without lifting a hand against him is long gone. So is the Cedar Revolution. Syria and Iran are back in charge in Lebanon. And in Afghanistan, the Taliban are laughing at our soft power outreach efforts.
Obama’s soft power approach emphasizes the ‘soft’ and forgets the ‘power’. It neglects even Clinton era understandings about the role of America in the world, and reverts instead to a Carter era sense of guilt that bleeds into hostility toward American interests and allies. While the rest of the world puts their own interests first, they act like a cog in some imaginary global community, turning and turning toward the distant horizon of international brotherhood. While China, Russia and most of the world walk down their backs and up their jellyfish spines, laughing all the way. And America’s allies gird themselves and prepare for the worst.
From the first, this administration has curried favor with America’s enemies by betraying and humiliating its allies. But these hideous acts of moral cowardice have not won Obama the approval of America’s enemies. Only their contempt. And a Nobel Peace Prize from a committee of elderly left wing Swedes, awarded not for any accomplishment, but for the lack thereof. For being a man without a country, a leader without a spine and a representative of America who gives no thought for the interests of that country.
Now that the Koreas stand on the brink of war, Iran continues its drive toward a nuclear bomb, Al Qaeda is going global, Hezbollah is on the verge of taking Lebanon and Mexico is on the verge of imploding– the impact of America’s absence on the global stage is all too clear. The countless cocktail parties and toasts have not changed the world. All they’ve done is highlighted the transition of the White House from world leadership to global party guest. Trip after trip has ended in photo ops and policy failures. Instead Obama is stuck dumpster diving into the futile quest for a Palestinian state, not because such an entity will make the world any better, but because it will make him look good.
Obama has no mandate at home, and he has even less of one abroad. America’s enemies do not fear him. Only our allies do. Kim Jong Il does not sit up nights worrying what Obama will do. Because the consensus in North Korea, Iran and the rest of the world is that the sea will rise, the sun will set and Obama will do nothing. Except maybe write a strongly worded letter, offset by some quiet backchannel diplomacy from his coterie of international left wing stooges reassuring the offender that, “No, Barry really isn’t mad at you. He’s just concerned. Really, really concerned.”
Liberal pundits mock the rough and ready style of conservatives like Reagan, Bush or Palin in world affairs, but what they fail to realize is that the over-educated naivete, trendy cosmopolitanism and buzzword rich approach of a Kerry or Obama come off as laughably pathetic on the world stage. Republicans might be hated, but they can’t be ignored. Democrats on the other hand are catspaws and pawns, fools who are so sure of their cleverness and determined to embrace every culture in the way that only the graduates of Ivy League institutions can, that any Third World vendor could twirl them around his fingers.
World leaders are rarely liked, but effective ones are respected. And effective world leaders don’t lead with appeasement, don’t compromise before the other side has even made an offer and negotiate on behalf of their country, rather than some intangible global consensus. They understand that they represent a country, not a popularity contest. They don’t travel abroad to be adored or be greeted with parades and gifts, but to achieve tangible results on specific issues. To do otherwise is not to be a world leader, but a celebrity who happens to have picked up a big title along the way.
To be a proper American president on the world stage, means choosing to be respected, rather than liked. Obama always chooses to be liked, rather than respected. Because respect comes from accomplishment and character, while ‘liking’ is a function of appearance and image. Aiming to be ‘liked’ is playing to Obama’s strengths. But being liked is irrelevant outside of an afterschool special. World affairs is not a networking seminar, it is a negotiation between countries who have billions of dollars and millions of lives on the line. And Obama has no idea how to play that game. Like the kid who never fit in anywhere, he’s still trying to be liked. And he’s willing to sell out American interests and allies to get the cool UN kids to like him.
Unfortunately Obama’s irrelevance is also America’s irrelevance. A Republican House of Representatives cannot do what Obama should be doing. And any attempt to show strength gets shouted down by the liberal punditocracy as treason and undermining the White House. As if anyone, anywhere could undermine Obama internationally as much as he undermines himself. The same liberals who considered Ted Kennedy’s treasonous offer of cooperation with the Soviet Union or Kerry’s trip to Latin American Marxist terrorists to be acts of courage, damn Republicans who supported allies in Ecuador and Israel as traitors. And so Obama must have a free hand to do it all on his own. To do what Kennedy or Kerry could have only dreamed of.
Obama has lost the world. He has made the country that he claims to represent into a shadow of its former strength and glory. And his irrelevance endangers American lives. Not just those of soldiers in war zones, laboring under restrictive Rules of Engagement, written so as not to offend Muslims. Not just those of Americans at risk for domestic terrorism under an Attorney General who sympathizes with terrorists, more than with Americans. But to everyone living in a world where countries like North Korea and Iran feel free to do what they want, where our economic rivals such as Russia and China advance their interests and their espionage, and where terrorists across the Muslim world grow in boldness and number because they have no one left to fear anymore. In America and around the world– Barack Hussein Obama endangers us all.
Absolute rubbish!
A well thought out, cogent, point-by-point rebuttal. Nicely done!
Oh wait, what is the opposite of all that called?
The point they have is disguised by the extreme level of exaggeration. No one who doesn’t already agree will ever be convinced, and the ones who do already agree don’t need any encouragement towards further insanity.
Would Al Quida be good and stop fighting if Obama stopped talking? Would China be a lap dog of the U.S. and supporting our policies in the U.N. if Bush were in charge? Is our foreign policy responsible for the politics in Japan? Doesn’t seem likely. They threw these points in because they sound good, but there’s not a whit of evidence to back them up.
The whole point that speaking softly doesn’t work unless you’re willing to back it up with a big stick, and that you need to look out for your own self interests on the world stage because no one else will, is actually HARMED when mixed with illogical statements like that.
You remember parabolic curves from Algebra, right? The maximal convincing factor is at the peak of the curve. Forget facts and people aren’t convinced. Start adding things that sound good and you drop off the other side – people are still turned away. This is aggrandizement of a cause, not a literary piece.
So not absolute Rubbish, as sir Saponjski said, but still designed to use Pathos to rally a cause and demonize “the enemy” – in this case Democrats – rather than present a solid point.
Rubbish? Rubbish? Another cogent argument in the style of the Left? If you can’t refute a well reasoned and informed position with facts and logic, then call it (and its author by inference) an offensive name. Daniel, thanks for enlightening us with your deep and well thought-out opinion. May God save us and our country from idiots like you.
Marijack,
Yes this is rubbish. When are you and others like you going to understand YOU MUST HAVE FACT, not opinions? Anyone can have an opinion, but that doesn’t make it fact.
As you stated, “May God save us and our Country from idiots like you”…..
When one is charged by a mad dog, it is only one’s opinion that it’s intent is less than friendly. To obtain the facts, one should stick around.
Brian Conway Kinderhook, NY
Daniel, I’m curious, what planet have you been visiting the last 2 years?
OBAMA FULFILLING THE BIBLE
For some stunning info on Pres. Obama and his fellow subversives, Google “Michelle Obama’s Allah-day,” “Obama Supports Public Depravity,” “David Letterman’s Hate Etc.,” “Un-Americans Fight Franklin Graham” and also “Sandra Bernhard, Larry David, Kathy Griffin, Bill Maher, Sarah Silverman.”
Here are some Bible verses that Obama avoids:
Proverbs 19:10 (NIV): “It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury – how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!”
Also Proverbs 30:22 (NIV) which says that the earth cannot bear up under “a servant who becomes king.”
And Ecclesiastes 5:2-3 (KJV) advises: “let thy words be few…a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.”
Although Obama is not descended from slaves, he may feel that he’s destined to become a black-slavery avenger.
Or maybe an enslaver of all free citizens!
PS – Since Christians are commanded to ask God to send severe judgment on persons who commit and support the worst forms of evil (see I Cor. 5 and note “taken away”), Christians everywhere should constantly pray that the Lord will soon “take away” or at least overthrow all US leaders, including Obama, who continue to sear their conscience and arrogantly trample the God-given rights of the majority including the rights of the unborn. Do we need a second American Revolution?
Yes Hugh, and you seem to forget your TEN commandments… False witnesses?
The most penetrating and accurate expose of Obama that has been written to date.
How very right you are. My country is in deep distress because of this “man’s” policies. He is doing everything in his power to bring the USA to it’s knees. I recognized the harm he would bring to my country, but never realized he could do so much harm in such a short time. Our Republican Congress will certainly help as long as they hold true to our Constitution, but it may be too little, too late. I pray not…
So absolutely true. This is an excellent evaluation of Obama. He truly does lack the skills and the perspective that are needed to be an effective leader.
Sad, but oh so true. Point on!
This is the best expose on obozo I’ve read since that clown came on the scene. How true when you have a weak prez that the tyrants of the world act up. And we are seeing it now. The world is not safe with that appeaser playing prez.
This is so true! As a country, with Obama as leader, we are neutered. People might not have liked President Bush but the terrorists, Putin, and all the other nut jobs knew if you hit us WE HIT BACK!
Succinct and perfectly put. Strange how the MSM misses the absolutely obvious
This is one of the best and most accurate dissections of Obama I have ever read.
Well, its nice to see someone with brains write the truth about obama-mess.
What keeps congress from impeaching this treansous sob?
Tie him up in a treason trial and that will keep him bush enough to prevent (hopefully) any more of his bumbling trips around the world to make the USA look like fools. Hopefully the rest of the world remembers that America has not all ways been a wimp and that if the citizens get on their back legs and decide to do some severe azz-kicking, look out, don’t wake the gaint, he might just kick you nose sideways.
Some of us had this all figured out very early in 2008 – Obama is who he is – it is all there for everyone to read, analyze and know – a slim, articulate (as long as the words are handed to him in one form or another) guy who looks good in an expensive suit – even if most of the suit is empty – END OF STORY.
Yet with the help of the MSM and 3/4 of a billion – he sold hope and change to a bunch of Americans who take their freedom and ability to control their government for granted -totally for granted. Well listen up -fool me once – shame on you – get fooled twice – you am messing around with the possibility of losing the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Amen!
Ahh Red this cuts both ways..try this on for size:
Some of us had this all figured out very early in 2008 – Palin is who she is – it is all there for everyone to read, analyze and know – a slim, articulate (as long as the words are handed to her in one form or another) woman who looks good in an expensive suit – even if most of the suit is empty – END OF STORY.
Daniel Greenfield is a brilliant analyst with a biting, sobering, and refreshing writing style (think Mark Steyn combined with Thomas Sowell and John Bolton). I urge everyone to read his incredible blog, where this post is also published.
Many of the comments here such as “point on,” “accurate dissection,” and “excellent evaluation” aptly describe his other articles:
http://www.sultanknish.blogspot.com/
-EP
Good article. I hope this gets people’s attention. A leader elected with no experience. He was marketed like a can of soda. We got what we deserve. I hope it changes in 2012.
Very Salient. I think the exceptions prove the rule among the comments. One lone assault on the article, printed quickly after it is published. If that is not a paid comment, I have never seen one.
Great analysis. Most insightful piece I’ve read in a long time.
Lets see, the Obama’s have a ‘Cocktail Party’ on average of EVERY 3 DAYS!!! I can see why he thinks he’s a ROCK STAR … BUT, he’s definitely NOT A LEADER that even AMERICANS can RESPECT … He’s WEAK, LIES DAILY, NARCISSISTIC, ARROGANT, INCOMPETENT, NAIVE, AND just downright MISERABLE in his JOB…HE NEEDS TO BE IMPEACHED!! The job of POTUS, is not ‘on the job’ training … It’s SERIOUS BUSINESS…. However, Obama is more concerned with VACATIONS, GOLF & playing BASKETBALL & APPEASEMENT than any President I’ve ever seen…. Oh, I do believe he’s more worried about the MUSLIMS than the CHRISTIANS in AMERICA … Maybe he’s also a CLOSET MUSLIM .. What say you?
Sounds like you’ve been watching uncle Glenn. Everyone of your words are right out of Beck’s mouth. Your opinions are not fact…so come up with some before the majority will believe.
So far your side hasn’t proven facts, so where does your HATE come from?
Emily. It may well be that Uncle Glen has gotten his talk from scources similiar to this.
When one is charged by a mad dog, it may be said that the dogs intention to do harm is only an opinion. To obtain the facts of the matter, one must stick around. Try my theory and please advise us of the results.
Brian Conway Kinderhook NY
Hey Emily,
Dee recited plenty of facts…you just choose to IGNORE them, or are too stupid to infer them:
e.g. Obama has hosted 29 “State Dinners” in less than 2 years (Bush hosted 6 in his entire 8 years), Obama has golfed more than 50 rounds (Bush had half as many golf rounds in 8 years), etc.
Two years too late…
I’d laugh–if only the truth weren’t damaging my country this very moment…
2010 polls: Obama most admired man; Palin top religious newsmaker
This is an excellent article and I cannot disagree with any point you made. However, I was disappointed with your use of incomplete sentences and your many improper uses of commas. A professional writer should be more aware of this.
Tell the Kids on Internet who elected him–maybe they’ll see the light!
It can’t all be blunders,I think its a purposeful effort to ruin our nation!
Much of what you say may be correct, regarding Obama, but the problems began with George Bush. President Bush did more to ruin America’s reputation in the world, than any other President in recent history. It was Bush who “lost the world,” and it was Bush who made America “into a shadow of its former strength and glory”. How could anyone possibly turn things around in two years?
I am not American, and I can honestly tell you that it was Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and those like them, that made me distrust and disrespect America. It was not Obama.
Oh, Laurie, Obama’s turning my country around alright. Around and around and around as it circles down the toilet bowl, after he used the Constitution for tp again and again. And please, the Blame Bush crap is really old by now. Think up a new mantra.
Daniel Greenfield is a brilliant writer and his SultanKnish blog is a must-read.
Listen to Laurie! Even outside the States, we’ve got BDS. “Bush’s fault…squawk!” Bush’s fault..squawk”. They line up like robots spouting the media line because they have no intelligent thoughts of their own. Using your own brain is refreshing, Laurie. Separating talking points from facts takes some brain cells. A wimpish, weak US President will be making YOUR safety much less certain no matter WHERE you live. And sorry for all of us, Bush is not in charge. WAKE UP AND FACE THE FACTS! Sheesh!
Some Americans got confused in the last Presidential election. They thought they were voting for the winner of American Idol.
World diplomacy is not subtle, it does not respond well to polite niceties. It is more akin to serious arm wrestling, with a lot more at stake than who buys the next round.
Barry Obama and his low-rent wife have turned the White House into Party Central.
They are worthless moochers. Barry is an inept man-child.
This is the best article I have read in a long time. It is so true. Obama has turned america into a laughing stock and wimp of the world. We are not laughing though. He has got to be stopped. I want to see the birth certificate.
Glad to see the liberal jackals spew forth their liberal tirades first….good to get the trash of the table then enjoy the desserts of common-sense observations. Article is a “carpenter’s delight,” really “hits the nail on the head!”
“He’s just one of those famous people with a passing interest in politics who gets good media attention, but who has nothing worthwhile to say.”
As much as I would love to agree with all of that statement, I have to disagree with the “passing interest” part. I believe he does have a lifelong interest in politics…as a means to bring his deep-seeded hatred for the United States, Caucasians and the religions of Christianity and Judaism to fruition.
the sad part is that no one listened when he was on the trail. he basically told the people exactyl what he was all about. now they want to bitch because they did not listen.
If any one of these points can be proven by any website but a far RIGHT, please list your resources. Rubbish is right!
These are FAR RIGHT OPINIONS.. where are the Government source FACTS to prove the TRUTH?
Kool-Aide drinkers, who needs Jim Jones when Fox News is around?
Daniel Greenfield’s article is splendid! It is tragic that so many Americans were deceived by Berry Sotero, (Barrack Hussein Obama). I knew during his presidential campaign that he spelled great trouble for America if elected! I pray that America has enough resilience to rebound back to a nation that is strong and respected by our friends, and feared by our enemies come 2012!!
“And a Nobel Peace Prize from a committee of elderly left wing Swedes…”
Actually, they were elderly left wing Norwegians. Other than that, good analysis.