Is the US in better shape now vs. before Obama took over?

[Iron MikeyJ]

Maybe the real question is "how is the US viewed internationally now? Better, worse, or the same as when Bush was in office?" it seemed to me out international respect was at an all time low during the Bush years, how are they now? Len? Anyone?

[DieselDaisy]

Maybe the real question is "how is the US viewed internationally now? Better, worse, or the same as when Bush was in office?" it seemed to me out international respect was at an all time low during the Bush years, how are they now? Len? Anyone?

Michelle Obama puts Snakes into a distemper.

[shades]

Maybe the real question is "how is the US viewed internationally now? Better, worse, or the same as when Bush was in office?" it seemed to me out international respect was at an all time low during the Bush years, how are they now? Len? Anyone?

We have no credibility, we speak and we don't follow through.

There use to be a time when the world could count on us, knowing we were doing the right thing for the right reasons, even if not always 100% correct, but always for the right reason. Then if we broke it we would fix it.

Now, Obama has made us the laughing stock among leaders,

The people of the world it is probably the same mixed bag of some for, some against.

[Dazey]

Maybe the real question is "how is the US viewed internationally now? Better, worse, or the same as when Bush was in office?" it seemed to me out international respect was at an all time low during the Bush years, how are they now? Len? Anyone?

We have no credibility, we speak and we don't follow through.

There use to be a time when the world could count on us, knowing we were doing the right thing for the right reasons, even if not always 100% correct, but always for the right reason. Then if we broke it we would fix it.

Now, Obama has made us the laughing stock among leaders,

The people of the world it is probably the same mixed bag of some for, some against.

I think you'll find that international opinion is rather different.

[shades]

Like I said, to the uninformed, by all means step up and expose yourself though.

To the LEADERS,

To the leaders that see Obama draw lines in the sand on Syria, then back off and have his private state run national press corp posing as legitimate news sources just make the story go away.

Just like with Iran presently, thought he set a June 30th deadline for them to cease spinning centrifuges, what is it now? who knows , press wont call him out, they report Kerry has it all under control.

Israel finds us to be a shell of our old selves.

People of Iraq or Afgahnistan wouldn't lift a finger to defend themselves because no one has their backs.

Arab Spring the press called it, kumbaya give peace a chance.

He gets elected into office saying he would close our horrible torture chamber known as Gitmo, still up and running 6+ years later,

Says he will end the wars, re-establish relationships, then he assassinates Libya's leader and leaves the citizens there to fend for themselves while Islamist militants battle to see who can wreck the most havoc.

Again when is the last time his press corp reported on their plight.

Obamas foreign policy is a joke at best and his circus clowns are everywhere I suppose, adjust that big red nose, it suits you.

[Dazey]

Like I said, to the uninformed, by all means step up and expose yourself though.

To the LEADERS,

To the leaders that see Obama draw lines in the sand on Syria, then back off and have his private state run national press corp posing as legitimate news sources just make the story go away.

Just like with Iran presently, thought he set a June 30th deadline for them to cease spinning centrifuges, what is it now? who knows , press wont call him out, they report Kerry has it all under control.

Israel finds us to be a shell of our old selves.

People of Iraq or Afgahnistan wouldn't lift a finger to defend themselves because no one has their backs.

Arab Spring the press called it, kumbaya give peace a chance.

He gets elected into office saying he would close our horrible torture chamber known as Gitmo, still up and running 6+ years later,

Says he will end the wars, re-establish relationships, then he assassinates Libya's leader and leaves the citizens there to fend for themselves while Islamist militants battle to see who can wreck the most havoc.

Again when is the last time his press corp reported on their plight.

Obamas foreign policy is a joke at best and his circus clowns are everywhere I suppose, adjust that big red nose, it suits you.

You realise that the vast majority of foreigners want less US involvement in these situations and not more?

[shades]

You realise that the vast majority of foreigners want less US involvement in these situations and not more?

yea until Islamist terrorist start blowing up people enmasse,

where you at at Ireland?

As about as important as Canada,

you don't count but thanks for your concern

[Dazey]

You realise that the vast majority of foreigners want less US involvement in these situations and not more?

yea until Islamist terrorist start blowing up people enmasse,

where you at at Ireland?

As about as important as Canada,

you don't count but thanks for your concern

The UK but thanks for showing your ignorance as usual. Also there's this which is a lot of words I realise but to summarise it basically says you're full of shit.

Is the World Really Losing Faith in Obama?

The president's critics fret about America's image abroad, but the numbers tell a different story.

Dick Cheney is worried about Americas image in the world. I think the perception around the world is increasingly negative, the former vice president declared on Wednesday to Sean Hannity, one of the few talk-show hosts who could hear such a claim without being struck dumb by its irony. Its become a frequent Republican refrain. President Obamas foreign policy, opines Karl Rove in a new Wall Street Journal column, has produced strained relations with allies and declining confidence in American leadership. Marco Rubio recently added that, In Asia, our allies are increasingly unsure about our ability to counter both North Korea and Chinese expansionism.

In a way, its heartening that Cheney and Rove feel the need to make non-Americans the ventriloquist dummies for their anti-Obama hostility. It suggests awareness that when it comes to foreign policy, they need spokespeople more credible than themselves. And it suggests a recognition, not always obvious during the George W. Bush years, that Americans should actually care what the rest of the world thinks.

But when Cheney says world opinion is increasingly negative and Rove detects declining confidence in the United States, its hard not to ask the obvious question: compared to when? In fact, while faith in the United States, and in Obama personally, has declined modestly since 2009, it is still dramatically higher than when Cheney and Rove roamed the West Wing.

For more than a decade, the Pew Research Center has been asking people around the world about their opinion of the United States. The upshot: In every region of the globe except the Middle East (where the United States was wildly unpopular under George W. Bush and remains so), Americas favorability is way up since Obama took office. In Spain, approval of the United States is 29 percentage points higher than when Bush left office.

In Italy, its up 23 points. In Germany and France, its 22. With the exception of China, where the numbers have remained flat, the trend is the same in Asia. The U.S. is 19 points more popular in Japan, 24 points more popular in Indonesia, and 28 points more popular in Malaysia. Likewise among the biggest powers in Latin America and Africa: Approval of the United States has risen 19 points in Argentina and 12 points in South Africa. (For some reason, theres no Bush-era data on this question for Brazil or Nigeria).

In his Hannity interview, Cheney attributed Americas supposedly deteriorating reputation to Obama personally. If we have a problem with weakness, he explained, it's stemming from the White House. But, in fact, the guy in the White House retains a personal brand that outshines Americas as a whole. And when you compare global perceptions of Obama to global perceptions of Cheneys old boss, the gap is jaw-dropping.

Again, the numbers come from Pew, which has been asking people in key countries every year whether they have confidence in Americas president to do the right thing in world affairs. Obamas popularity is down since 2009. Still, in Mexico and Argentina, the presidents 2013 numbers (the most recent we have) are 33 percentage points higher than Bushs in 2008. In South Korea, the margin is 47 points. In Japan, its 45 points. In Brazil, its 52 points. In Britain, its 56 points. In France, its 70 points. In Germany, its 74 points.

In case youre reading quickly, 74 points isnt Obamas approval rating in Germany. Its the gap between his approval rating and Bushs. In George W.s final year in office, 14 percent of Germans had faith that the president of the United States would do the right thing internationally. Last year, 88 percent did.

These statistics, of course, measure popular opinion, not the opinion of governments. In his Hannity interview, Cheney cited discussions hed had with world leaders, who supposedly pine for the Bush era. There may be some. Certainly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would love to turn back the clock to a time when the United States made little effort to midwife a Palestinian state. The Saudis and some other Gulf monarchies might have been happier before the U.S. began serious diplomacy with Iran, since an American-Iranian rapprochement would leave the United States less dependent on them.

74 points isnt Obamas approval rating in Germany. Its the gap between his approval rating and Bushs.

But in most of the world, popular opinion influences policy. When Obama wants the assistance of Indonesia or Malaysia or South Africa in fighting jihadists or cracking down on Iranian banks, it helps that their leaders arent embarrassed to be seen with him.

Or consider the recent crisis between the West and Russia, in which the United States successfully pushed Germany and Britain to back sanctions aimed at preventing Putin from destabilizing Ukraine, even though those sanctions interfere with Germany and Britains lucrative ties to Moscow. There is evidence that those sanctions helped convince Putin to back off.

Could George W. Bush have pushed the Europeans as far? I doubt it. Remember that in 2002, Bush was so unpopular in Germany that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made his opposition to the Iraq War the centerpiece of his reelection campaign. When Schroeder won, Bush declined to offer him the customary congratulatory phone call. Schroeders justice minister compared Bush to Hitler. And to the delight of most Europeans, Germany allied with France to thwart Americas effort to get United Nations support for an invasion of Iraq.

In that environment, would Bush really have managed to convince Berlin to slap sanctions on Russia that cut against Germanys short-term economic self-interest, as Obama has? I doubt it, because Germans wouldnt have seen much of a difference between what Putin was doing and what Bush was.

When Bush was president, Cheney and Rove were defiantly uninterested in what other nations thought about American foreign policy. Now theyre convinced that those other nations yearn for the pre-Obama days. Back then, they were merely ideologically blinkered. Now they are verifiably, empirically wrong.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/05/is-the-world-really-losing-faith-in-barack-obama/371884/

[magisme]

Let the wife do the talking if you want us to give a shit, Dazey.

[shades]

in case you didn't notice there are millions of refugees fleeing their homes, including children, because there is a movement going on that wants to take up enough territory and resources to bring a world in which you have no idea, obviously.

stick your head in the sand and worship the great black wonder if you wish.

The US is actually trying to confront this movement in some form, or in Obama's case act like they are.

And personally I would prefer isolationism myself lately, pull our troops out of everywhere, secure our borders and airports, no one gets in here unless you belong here, and you have overstayed your welcome if you don't belong so run along to wherever it is you came. But that's not going to happen. It's open season on land here stay here right now.

if your walls start tumbling down to terror and it's not as far fetched as you think, who you going to call, Merkel? Hollande? Putin?

good luck

Edited July 10, 2015 by shades

[Apollo]

Shades, thank you for adding some well needed COMMON SENSE, logic and actual facts (that aren't twisted) to these latest political threads. It's refreshing to see.

[Dazey]

Shades, thank you for adding some well needed COMMON SENSE, logic and actual facts (that aren't twisted) to these latest political threads. It's refreshing to see.

Can you point out what those might be because it looks like he's just talking bollocks as usual to me.

[classicrawker]

Shades, thank you for adding some well needed COMMON SENSE, logic and actual facts (that aren't twisted) to these latest political threads. It's refreshing to see.

...........you know when a Brit can see through the bullshit it must be pretty thick.

Edited July 10, 2015 by classicrawker

[AxlisOld]

No more bullshit than an American saying mate all the time

[Słash]

And everyone gangs up on Shades again

I do agree with some points he said and some of the points he said made no sense.

[Georgy Zhukov]

I hope we keep electing liberal presidents so we can finally eradicate this Christian menace from North America. Then we can talk evolution freely in class while we turn our kids into homosexuals.

[classicrawker]

No more bullshit than an American saying mate all the time

or someone who brags about how cool it is to be a continuously drunk......... mate.

I hope we keep electing liberal presidents so we can finally eradicate this Christian menace from North America. Then we can talk evolution freely in class while we turn our kids into homosexuals.

Turn our kids into homosexuals?! Come on man you are smarter than that.

Edited July 11, 2015 by classicrawker

[bran]

No more bullshit than an American saying mate all the time

or someone who brags about how cool it is to be a continuously drunk......... mate.

I hope we keep electing liberal presidents so we can finally eradicate this Christian menace from North America. Then we can talk evolution freely in class while we turn our kids into homosexuals.

Turn our kids into homosexuals?! Come on man you are smarter then that.

i think georgy was using a bit of sarcasm CR

[classicrawker]

No more bullshit than an American saying mate all the time

or someone who brags about how cool it is to be a continuously drunk......... mate.

I hope we keep electing liberal presidents so we can finally eradicate this Christian menace from North America. Then we can talk evolution freely in class while we turn our kids into homosexuals.

Turn our kids into homosexuals?! Come on man you are smarter then that.

i think georgy was using a bit of sarcasm CR

I thought so as he is a great poster but you can never be sure on the internet.... my apologies Georgy......

Edited July 11, 2015 by classicrawker

[bran]

i kind of like jim webb but there is no way he will win.

[Georgy Zhukov]

Sorry, CR. It just came to me, I couldn't resist.

[classicrawker]

Sorry, CR. It just came to me, I couldn't resist.

[AxlisOld]

No more bullshit than an American saying mate all the time

or someone who brags about how cool it is to be a continuously drunk......... mate.

I haven't been drunk in hours. Working on it now.

[Georgy Zhukov]

If the government takes away our guns, we will be defenseless against Chuck Norris.

[netcat]

You realise that the vast majority of foreigners want less US involvement in these situations and not more?

All countries that boarder Russia need more US involvement in their affairs i can assure you - Poland, Baltic countries, Ukraine, etc.

on the other hand, i think that maybe Obama's policy on Russia makes sense. probably it's a good thing that Obama's administration blocks lethal weapons supply to Ukraine and insist on diplomatic solution of the crisis as this resulted in keeping the war localized to 5 % on Ukrainian territory so far. this, and the fact that Ukrainians proved they are going to defend their country no matter what

Edited July 11, 2015 by netcat