Jan Weatherhead writes from Washington: US President Barack Obama said this week that America has to expand its global leadership idea and spread US values – and, if necessary, send in the military to enforce those values.
Most Americans want less foreign involvement, polls show (stripes.com)
It Wasn’t Just an Apology Tour, It Was a Condemnation Tour! (rushlimbaugh.com)
Barack Obama: His Achilles Heel Is Not Egypt, It’s Libya (valuewalk.com)
Latin America gets short shrift in US election (kansascity.com)
The Republican contender, Mitt Romney, said something along similar lines. Make America stronger and fix the world whatever it takes, he said.
The Pew Research Centre polls during the past four weeks have detected that few Americans see the benefits of a global reach foreign policy. All this is more or less what America was saying after the 1914-1918 war into whichPresident Wilson led them into a conflict without reason nor benefit and then refused to endorse his own plan for the League of Nations that was one consequence of war.
A further example of America’s electorate having more than a superficial grasp of foreign affairs than imagined, is the poling that shows the majority of Americans don’t think that the so-called Arab Spring has delivered anything good for the Arabs. Noticeably, Romney agrees with Obama that it was right to get rid of America’s strongest and trusted ally, Mubarak.
It is in this example that we see the economic-military-politico pull-together. Protecting Israeli and the Middle East protects the vital interest of the US – oil.
But now we have through the Pew Research Center this month evidence that almost 70 per cent of the US electorate believe Washington should keep out of leadership changes in the Middle East. That same poll suggested 57 per cent believe the Middle East should have stable governments without much emphasis on democracy.
In other words, neither Democrats nor Republicans have the candidates they want. For that reason alone it is better that Obama stays on and then the whole choosing process for both parties will be better placed to begin the 2016 election with a clean sheet. A post made earlier today over on Stirring Trouble Internationally – A humorous take on news and current affairs.
Related articles
Candidates Avoid Hard Argument for Democracy (washingtonmonthly.com)Most Americans want less foreign involvement, polls show (stripes.com)
It Wasn’t Just an Apology Tour, It Was a Condemnation Tour! (rushlimbaugh.com)
Barack Obama: His Achilles Heel Is Not Egypt, It’s Libya (valuewalk.com)
Latin America gets short shrift in US election (kansascity.com)
