Last Time I Checked This Was Still America But If I'm Being Honest, That Was A While Ago...The Onion Commentary
"Our friends no longer trust us and our enemies no longer fear us." That bold statement was made by Congressman Adam Kinzinger {R-Ill}. The congressman, an Iraq War veteran, said that in response to the fall of Fallujah and the way Obama withdrew from Iraq.
But Iraq is just one part of the Obama administration's failed foreign policy landscape. Whether it's been dealing with the Hamas/Israeli crisis or the Syrian civil war or Russia's aggression against the Ukraine or even confronting Islamist terrorism around the globe (including the cleansing of Christian communities), it's become increasingly clear our allies no longer trust us. As far as unleashing hell upon our enemies, they know this administration doesn't have the spine to take such action. They've witnessed that repeatedly with the behavior of John F. Kerry---the long face of appeasement. In other words, our nation's credibility as both a reliable partner and protector has been compromised within a few short six years.
As any reasonable observer would know, the United States has a long history of providing reliable, generous and trustworthy assistance to most nations around the globe in both human and financial resources. Perhaps the greatest example of that was during WWII. Following that war, our record of assisting our allies was exemplary as seen with the Berlin airlift, the Korean War, supporting Europe in the face of Soviet aggression and even rescuing Kuwait from the evil clutches of Saddam Hussein. In fact, one can probably argue that America's admirable and noble behavior toward others---especially those in need---created a reinforcing geopolitical situation wherein allies became dependent upon us. That too can have its drawbacks. But in the world of geopolitics, that dependence can actually be used an an effective strategy in coping with the many ills of the modern world. In other words, it can be used as a type of geopolitical marker: we helped you so now it's time for you to support us.
Unfortunately, it appears the Obama administration and the progressive political class never learned that strategy. When a great nation is perceived as unreliable and weak, a vacuum is created. That vacuum has to be filled. And it's filled with either good guys or bad guys. As America regresses in its global stature, it appears the bad guys are picking up the slack.
We are now in desperate need of genuine leadership. We already have it in our military and the best fighting force on the globe. Unfortunately, it's lacking in our political structure. To borrow from the U.S. Navy with a hint of paraphrase: we need to get back to being perceived as a "Badass Global Force For Good."
