Free Republic

President Obama spoke to a group of young Southeast Asian leaders Friday in Malaysia and warned them about about avoiding the "pitfalls" the United States suffers from, the Washington Times reports. Human Rights Watch says on its main Malaysia page that the country’s government has engaged in a "strong crackdown on civil and political rights, including charging organizers of peaceful demonstrations. Though he had promised to repeal the Sedition Act, Prime Minister Najib Razak pushed through amendments to strengthen it, as well as a repressive counterterror law." Obama, however, warned the leaders about such American weaknesses as racial divides, income...

Abstract: President Barack Obama has said that America would reach out to other countries as “an equal partner” rather than as the “exceptional” nation that many before him had embraced; that “any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail”; and that “[o]ur problems must be dealt with through partnership” and “progress must be shared.” He has laid out in his public statements the tenets of a doctrine that, if enacted, would enable his Administration to remake America as one nation among many, with no singular claim either to responsibility or exceptionalism: (1)...