A new poll by the BBC shows that while Obama has been unable to muster a significant lead over his republican rival John McCain, the world would prefer Obama as the U.S. president.
The article, "World wants Obama as president: poll," notes that 17 of 22 nations polled thought world relations would improve with an Obama presidency.
My thought on this: who cares what the rest of the world thinks. They don't get a vote. Not only that, who cares what the rest of the world thinks, because they do not have the best interests of the U.S. on their minds.
Sometimes, unfortunately, a president has to do things that might not be popular. He or she has to do what he or she thinks is right. He cannot make decisions because "Oh, this might offend France, or Spain, or Mexico."
Sure, he should have empathy for other nations and people around the world, but that should not be at the forefront of his mind. On the forefront of his mind should be: AMERICA.
Personally, I think Obama would think of other nations before the U.S. I think he would put what the UN thinks before what is best for the U.S. I think he would support a world court that would have jurisdiction over our courts, thus taking away some of our Constitutional rights.
Obama would also allow the UN Security Council decide where we go to war and where we send our soldiers. I think this would be bad policy. I think this would be foolish.
And that's just another reason why I support John McCain for President: he puts his country first.
And that is my thought of the day.
5 comments:
You do realize you're thinking, and posing things, in extreme terms: it's all one way or the other, with no in between.
I wish you'd realize that most of the time the world doesn't work that way. If John Kennedy had thought that way during the Cuban missile crisis, we would have ended up fighting World War III after a nuclear exchange with the Russians.
Of course the citizens of other countries don't get to choose the president of the U.S. Nor should their preference be the sole basis on which any U.S. citizen votes. Has anyone ever claimed otherwise?
None that I know of.
OTOH, does it matter what foreigners think of the U.S. and its leaders — whether they are seen as warmongers and reckless? Whether they are seen as intelligent, honest and trustworthy? I think it matters a lot, especially in a time when threats loom from so many quarters and when our economy is more integrated with the world economy than ever before.
Long about 2004, the French, Germans and Egyptians offered to train Iraqi military police. All they asked was that the trainees be brought to the respective countries. The Bush administration blew them off, saying all training would be done in Iraq.
Subsequently, our military testified before Congress the training was going slower and running into more problems than expected, and they didn't know when Iraq would have enough trained MP's to meet the country's need. That was in 2006.
One of the reasons why the training was going so slow is that the trainees were scared to death they would be found out and killed. Another reason is that when they got paid, they had to walk or hitchhike home to give the money to their families because Iraq has no way to send the money. And sometimes, home was hundreds of miles from where they were training.
So, was blowing off France, Germany and Egypt's offer of help a good idea? I don't think so. I think it was beyond stupid. I think it was done out of hubris and spite, and was intended to offend France and Germany, especially. What it ended up doing was making things worse for Iraqis and our own troops.
While I'm on the terror war, I will remind you several planned attacks have been prevented and several really bad guys have been killed or captured because of the help and cooperation of other countries, including Germany, Britain and France.
The truth is, no nation can afford to go it alone any more, especially if it has armed aggression on its agenda. Ask the Russians what they learned in Afghanistan. Ask the Iraqis what they learned in Kuwait.
I urge you to rethink your extreme attitude. Everything's not rendered in black and white. And hotheaded and/or incompetent leaders are a danger to everyone.
What I wrote was that the U.S. cannot worry about world opinion when we are defending our own nation, because those other nations do not have the best interest of the U.S. on their minds. I did not say we should not try to maintain good relations or try to improve relations -- we should.
freadom, I think your post was excellent.
Also, we need to remember France's guilt in "oil for food" and the fact that Germany's barely fought outside its borders for 60 years and their people aren't ready to be insulted with "Oh, the NAZIs are at it again" (my husband is from Germany, trust me, this is true) There are many reasons they didn't come in with us.
We must not give a DARN what the UN thinks, however; we pay far too much and get ZERO for it. I wish John Bolton was back there...at least he told the truth.
Good post, Freadom...keep it up.
I'd like to hear Obama ONCE glow about this great country of ours..just ONCE..without the caveat that "we must change her".
Thank you Z. While I enjoy listening to people who disagree with me, it's also nice to know I'm not alone in my thinking.
I am with you on this...at some point the world needs to realize the US is its own entity and we owe the world nothing. Having said that we are a great charitable nation and do help the world. Bush is the largest contributor ever of our tax dollars to fighting AIDS around the world, biggest forgiver of debt, large giver of humanitarian aid in disasters and what has it gotten us? The world seeking a liberal leader so we can also tackle the global poverty problem while most Americans are screaming poverty at the moment...it's the economy stupid, only it the world economy for Obama. Perhaps the world would like us more if we had left well enough alone with regards to the kick backs Saddam was giving the world leaders in the OIL for Food scandal. Shutting that down was difficult for the global community. great post! :)N
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