IF YOU COULD HEAR A MAN'S SOUL WITH A STETHOSCOPE...:

A Man Apart (Herbert I. London, 10/29/09, Hudson Institute)

Based on his performance so far, President Obama is a man apart. He seems to equate power with arrogance; pride with willfulness and exceptionalism with dominance. As a consequence, he has changed foreign policy perceptions: the America he leads is just a nation like any other - no more, no less. As a Nobel laureate, he is considered by the Europeans not merely a citizen of the United States, but a man of the world as a man of the world, not merely a citizen of the United States.

When asked if the United States is exceptional, President Obama said America is exceptional and England is exceptional and Greece is exceptional. That the United States is different did not cross his mind. How could it? He is pledged to a scenario in which America opts out of its traditional role as peacekeeper, the balance wheel in maintaining international equilibrium. Without America’s leadership role, the war against terrorists is over.

Unfortunately the war fatigue President Obama embodies is not embraced by our global enemies -- they read this shift in his policy as a sign of weakness and retreat. The President may actually think that unilateral concessions to our enemies will result in reciprocal responses. But as his overtures to the Olympic Committee demonstrated, gestures directed at multilateralism and his own celebrity status have not so far translated into favorable results. Real, or hard, power -- as opposed to soft power -- still has meaning on the world stage.

A man with roots would know that the wild and extravagant policy swings of the kind that we have experienced with healthcare, cap and trade and education proposals cannot possibly fly with the American people, even with those who voted for President Obama. Despite cultural shifts in the nation, the United States still fashions itself as a conservative nation. Only a man apart cannot sense that condition.

...you just know the sound emanating from his would be that of crickets.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 29, 2009 5:49 AM