One year after President Obama assumed office, 55 percent of Americans think their country is on the wrong track, according to National Journal. Sixty-one percent believe their country is in decline, according to NBC and The Wall Street Journal. Half the American public, according to Pew, embraces the isolationist premise that the United States should “mind its own business” in world affairs — sentiments not seen since the 1930s. This is not the kind of change many of us want to believe in.
Meanwhile, in response to President Obama’s outstretched hand, China has taken off its velvet glove to reveal a clenched fist of iron ; the spectacle of a junior Chinese official scolding him in Copenhagen symbolizes a troubling turn in relations with a country rendered overconfident by excessive U.S. deference. Iranians wonder whether Washington cares more about negotiating a nuclear deal with an illegitimate regime than supporting their efforts in the streets to change that regime. Russia has given the United States little in return for President Obama’s concessionary diplomacy, reflected in his unilateral decision to cancel a missile defense deployment that Central European governments had risked their parliamentary majorities to defend. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken greater comfort from President Obama’s extraordinary announcement of a deadline for withdrawing American forces than have the Afghan government and people from his laudable decision to surge American troops there.
President Obama’s magic still works in post-modern Europe — perhaps partly as a result of his promise to rein in American power. But crises in relations with Japan, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other partners suggest that distance doesn’t necessarily make the heart grow fonder. Our European friends may soon discover that the only thing they like less than a strong, assertive America is a weak, insular one.
