With all the accolades President Obama has racked up from Democrats and grudging concessions wrenched from GOP haters over his Foreign Policy achievements, we think it may be wise to review the totality his accomplishments from a global perspective. Now that the dust storms of discontent has kicked up around the world since the President's Cairo speech and his rebuilding America's image world tour, we're wondering if the international community still feel as comfortable with Barack Obama's foreign policy credentials as Americans seem to be.
While the killing of Osama bin Laden and literally thousands of number 2 al-Qaeda operatives may get big cheers and brownie points at home, one must ask how does that accomplishment make the global citizen feel safer. To be blunt, does the world think America's policies and actions have had any real impact on their lives at all?. Do we have any more "close friends" around the world today than we did before George W. Bush left office. Has America strengthened relations with more nation states than not? Has America's foreign policy garnered more respect, prestige and cooperation or less since President Obama has been in office? If not why not?
Perhaps if the President had to sweat out a primary challenge, some of these question would be asked. Unfortunately, he's getting a free pass on the most crucial barometer of international leadership one should have to be evaluated by. Of course Barack Obama is only the President of these United States and will ultimately be judged by a domestic audience.
But unlike previous US Presidential newbies, Barack Obama had global appeal and thus an unprecedented opportunity to affect a wider sphere of influence. Hence, if the world were polled today, we'd be interested to know what percentage of people would say their lives had been positively impacted by having Barack Obama as President of the United States.
The State of US Foreign Policy
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