Over night the United States went from being an imperialist pig nation to the greatest hope for freedom and equality in the world when we elected Barack Obama.
If you actually believe this, you’re either a foreigner, Barack Obama, or an idiot.
For the last 8 years in many countries where Americans visit, they have been demonized and criticized on account of the policies of one George W. Bush. Friends I know have been compared to Bush when they travel abroad despite not resembling, sounding like, or sharing the same chromosomes as the man.
Now all of the sudden the entire world loves Americans again.
Why?
Is it purely a matter of racial reconciliation? Is it because Europe in all its liberal and enlightened glory, has yet to produce a minority President or Prime Minister? Or is it because people all around the world truly believe that Barack Obama is going to fix the global economy, get the US out of Iraq, provide universal health care, solve the Palestinian crisis, and turn water into wine all within his first term?
When I told a visiting German this week about Obama’s plan to add 65,000 to 95,000 troops to the Army and the Marines he seemed stunned and disappointed. Why would Obama do such a thing? He’s a peaceful, intelligent man, not a warmonger or an imperialist.
If you really think that Barack Obama represents a change of policy in dealing with Iran, Russia, terrorism, or imperialism, then you haven’t been paying close enough attention. During the first Presidential debate on foreign policy, the only noticeable difference between McCain and Obama’s platforms seemed to be that Obama thought Iraq was a bad idea from the start. On the other issues they represented the same failed, stupid ideas:
1. Both McCain and Obama put the blame on Russia for brief war with Georgia over the summer. They decried Russian aggression when Georgian troops clearly were the instigators.
2. Both McCain and Obama pledged to never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon and neither would take any options off the table to prevent this from happening.
3. None of the mainstream Presidential candidates said anything about scaling back the massive amounts of troops, military hardware, and intelligence equipment that the US has all around the world, which will cost taxpayers over 700 billion dollars next year.
If the only change that America and the world really wanted was to have a kindler, gentler machine-gun hand at the helm, then I suppose we really are the ones that we have been waiting for.
