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Circling Sharks Smell American Blood: America should keep quieter abroad — and try finding a...
National Review Online ^
| November 19, 2009
| Victor Davis Hanson
Posted on 11/19/2009 8:32:41 AM PST by neverdem
November 19, 2009, 0:00 a.m.
Circling Sharks Smell American Blood America should keep quieter abroad and try finding a bigger stick.
By Victor Davis Hanson
On his recent trip to Asia, President Obama found China, Japan, and South Korea — like many nations these days — in no mood to hear more American lectures.
Beijing is worried about owning so much American debt. Tokyo is tiring of an American military base in Okinawa, and wants to redefine its relationship with us. Seoul is starting to doubt American commitment to keep it safe from North Korea.
Why all the sudden pushback to our charismatic president?
Our dollar is crashing, while the price of gold is soaring. The budget deficit has never been worse — and the president wants to float even more debt for health-care and energy initiatives.
By the end of this presidential term, we may add another $9 trillion to our already astronomical $11 trillion debt. Unemployment has already topped 10 percent. This quarter’s trade deficit reached a near-historic high. Our debtors and oil exporters talk of scrapping the dollar as the common international currency.
American hesitation abroad reflects the shaky economic news. In Afghanistan, we can’t decide whether to seek victory or admit defeat — or simply vote present by keeping the status quo. President Obama reached out to enemies such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. But so far they remain unimpressed, despite his apologizing for an assortment of supposed past American sins.
The Chinese don’t listen all that much anymore to our sermons on their human-rights, coal-burning, and free-trade abuses — not when they hold $1.5 trillion in U.S. assets. The president took a lot of flak for bowing to Saudi royals and the Japanese emperor. But why wouldn’t he show deference — given America’s huge dependence on foreign oil and Japanese imports?
France, of all nations, is now warning us to get a backbone with the Iranians. So far the theocracy has snubbed our new outreach efforts aimed at stopping its nuclear proliferation. Iran’s Russian patrons now talk more nicely to us — but mostly because we caved on land-based missile defense in Eastern Europe, and got nothing really in return.
The Norwegians gave Obama the Nobel Peace Prize after less than a year in office and without any real accomplishments. They must suspect that such global recognition will flatter Obama to push a now-unexceptional America toward a more multilateral perspective in tune with the thinking at the United Nations.
The Obama administration announced a kinder, gentler approach to the War on Terror. It serially promised to the world to shut down Guantanamo and loudly derided much of the Bush-era anti-terrorism protocols. We may put on trial former CIA interrogators, while we give civil trials and full American legal protection to the terrorist detainees who planned the 9/11 attacks.
Obama himself has praised the history and culture of the Islamic world, and even fudged the historical record to magnify its achievements.
Yet, so far this year, authorities broke up three radical Islamic terrorist plots inside the United States. And we lost twelve soldiers and one civilian (with others wounded) at Fort Hood; the accused, a member of our own military, has shown himself to be a Muslim extremist. Al-Qaeda promises more attacks, and the Taliban feel that American commitment to a free Afghanistan is weakening.
Add it all up and there is a growing sense that America is in fact hemorrhaging — as both friends and enemies abroad smell blood in the water. The president through conciliation and concession — not to mention constant talk — is trying to superficially restore the influence we once earned by virtue of our economic power and self-confidence in our exceptional past and singular values.
But being both loud and vulnerable is not a winning combination, since political influence and military power are ultimately predicated on economic strength.
The United States needs to re-establish itself as financially credible and responsible so that when we lecture — about everything from global warming to Iranian nukes — we do so from a position of strength. That means we need to stop borrowing other nations’ money.
America also can’t afford to keep importing high-priced oil that we won’t produce at home. And we should stop promising ever-more government entitlements to ever-more voters that we can’t even begin to pay for.
For as we continue in our self-indulgence, a more defiant world seems to be saying that the old rules of the game have changed. In response, America should keep quieter abroad — and try finding a bigger stick.
— Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a recipient of the 2007 National Humanities Medal. © 2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Japan; Politics/Elections; Russia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: obama; vdh; victordavishanson
1
posted on
11/19/2009 8:32:42 AM PST
by
neverdem
To: neverdem
“Why all the sudden pushback to our charismatic president?”
Once I lived the life of a millionaire,
Spent all my money, I just did not care.
Took all my friends out for a good time,
Bought bootleg whisky, champagne and wine.
Then I began to fall so low,
Lost all my good friends, I did not have nowhere to go.
I get my hands on a dollar again,
I’m gonna hang on to it till that eagle grins.
‘Cause no, no, nobody knows you
When you’re down and out.
In your pocket, not one penny,
And as for friends, you don’t have any.
When you finally get back up on your feet again,
Everybody wants to be your old long-lost friend.
Said it’s mighty strange, without a doubt,
Nobody knows you when you’re down and out.
When you finally get back upon your feet again,
Everybody wants to be your good old long-lost friend.
Said it’s mighty strange,
Nobody knows you,
Nobody knows you,
Nobody knows you when you’re down and out.
2
posted on
11/19/2009 8:37:45 AM PST
by
jessduntno
(Obama is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them.)
To: neverdem
The only stick this administration has is up obama’s butt.
3
posted on
11/19/2009 8:40:34 AM PST
by
TexasFreeper2009
(Obama lied, the economy died)
To: neverdem
It’s the late 1970’s all over again with Obama playing the role of Jimmy Carter.
To: neverdem
Their complaints aren’t anything to compare with Nobama’s derision of his own country.
5
posted on
11/19/2009 8:48:26 AM PST
by
DallasDeb
(USAFA '06 Mom)
To: Le Chien Rouge
I think he has already done in one year what took Jimmy Carter to do in four.
6
posted on
11/19/2009 8:54:15 AM PST
by
Vigilanteman
(Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
To: neverdem
Other nations know we're the world's biggest deadbeat. Its amusing to hear America lecture other countries on responsibility while it lives up to excess. If I was a Russian, Chinese or Japanese - I'd tell Uncle Sam to get lost and put his house in order first.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
7
posted on
11/19/2009 9:00:57 AM PST
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
To: Le Chien Rouge
“Its the late 1970s all over again with Obama playing the role of Jimmy Carter.”
When we start thinking of the 70’s as the “good old days” where do you imagine we’ll be then? I think this guy will take the US down a distinctly darker hole than we lived thru then. That is, if he has his way with us.
8
posted on
11/19/2009 10:06:27 AM PST
by
Attention Surplus Disorder
(It's better to give a Ford to the Kidney Foundation than a kidney to the Ford Foundation.)
To: Vigilanteman
youre right,....all we need now is 52 hostages in some faraway embassy to put a cherry on top.
9
posted on
11/19/2009 10:30:33 AM PST
by
Armedanddangerous
(I think youre so full of inconsolable rage you don't care who you hurt)
To: Armedanddangerous
OBAMA IS A HOSTAGE CRICIS IN HIMSELF!
To: neverdem
11
posted on
11/20/2009 11:49:33 AM PST
by
diamond6
(Expose Planned Parenthood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaTywSDmls)
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