On the world stage, just to be as objective about it as I can, I can’t think of many nations in the world where we have a better relationship now than we did when he took over.
Obama has performed a series of blunders vis-a-vis those nations which had been on friendly terms with the United States until early 2009. Measurable damage, e.g., has been done to our relationships with England and Germany, and those two nations are noticeably less enthusiastic about partnering with the United States in any international effort.
Regarding Russia’s ever-prickly Putin, the Obama administration has lacked the nuance required to provide a stern yet pleasant counterweight to the Russian aura over eastern Europe and southwestern Asia.
In the face of those powers which are incorrigible enemies of the United States - those nations who have an unalterable desire to kill Americans and harm America - Obama has demonstrated an unwillingness to understand the immutable nature of these states or movements: the regimes of North Korea and Iran, the Islamic and Islamicist movements in southwest Asia and northern Africa.
The United States has experienced a loss in the strength of its diplomatic relationships with allies, and a loss in the strength of its firm resolve in the face of acidic aggression from its enemies. Jimmy Carter said:
If you look at Russia, if you look at England, if you look at China, if you look at Egypt and so forth - I’m not saying it’s his fault - but we have not improved our relationship with individual countries and I would say that the United States influence and prestige and respect in the world is probably lower now than it was six or seven years ago.
Noting the same weaknesses, but phrasing them more circumspectly and diplomatically, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, describes the damage inflicted upon United States and its international standing by Obama:
global disorder has trended upward while some of our comparative advantages have begun to erode.
Unlike Carter, Dempsey did not directly attribute the weakening of the United States to Obama. Dempsey did, however, specify the telling metric: “comparative advantage.”
Obama’s deliberate effort has reduced the comparative advantage of the United States - diplomatically, militarily, economically. It has been Obama’s goal and intent to reduce the standing of the United States relative to the other nations of the world.
