A harsh reality check from Mort Zuckerman at USA Today, reinforcing every word uttered in the video above.
The full article is a must read but a few specific portions clearly show how Barack Obama and America because of Barack Obama, is seen through the eyes of the rest of the world.
The reviews of Obama's performance have been disappointing. He has seemed uncomfortable in the role of leading other nations, and often seems to suggest there is nothing special about America's role in the world. The global community was puzzled over the pictures of Obama bowing to some of the world's leaders and surprised by his gratuitous criticisms of and apologies for America's foreign policy under the previous administration of George W. Bush. One Middle East authority, Fouad Ajami, pointed out that Obama seems unaware that it is bad form and even a great moral lapse to speak ill of one's own tribe while in the lands of others.
Even in Britain, for decades our closest ally, the talk in the press—supported by polls—is about the end of the "special relationship" with America. French President Nicolas Sarkozy openly criticized Obama for months, including a direct attack on his policies at the United Nations. Sarkozy cited the need to recognize the real world, not the virtual world, a clear reference to Obama's speech on nuclear weapons. When the French president is seen as tougher than the American president, you have to know that something is awry. Vladimir Putin of Russia has publicly scorned a number of Obama's visions. Relations with the Chinese leadership got off to a bad start with the president's poorly-organized visit to China, where his hosts treated him disdainfully and prevented him from speaking to a national television audience of the Chinese people. The Chinese behavior was unprecedented when compared to visits by other U.S. presidents.
The damage to America's reputation because of Obama's incompetence will be felt for decades to come and the best descriptor is on page two of the USA Today article at the very bottom:
America right now appears to be unreliable to traditional friends, compliant to rivals, and weak to enemies. One renowned Asian leader stated recently at a private dinner in the United States, "We in Asia are convinced that Obama is not strong enough to confront his opponents, but we fear that he is not strong enough to support his friends."
The warning signs were there long before Obama was voted in, but no one listened. Conservatives warned of Obama's lack of experience but that was waved away as partisanship... fair enough, but conservatives weren't the only ones warning of Obama's inexperience as the video at the beginning of this piece shows us.
I was never a Hillary Clinton supporter, but I did admit freely that her performance during the 2008 presidential campaign did force me to grudgingly respect her abilities and even though I would have preferred McCain to Obama or Clinton, but if I knew without a doubt that it came down to Clinton or Obama, Clinton would have at least had the backbone, the experience and the know-how to lead with strength and would never have allowed America to be seen as "weak" as Obama has done.
The best we can hope for at this point is that in November of 2010, the Republicans take the House of Representatives and/or the Senate and limit any further damage our on-the-job-training president can do to our country until 2012, where hopefully, we elect a president, Democrat or Republican, that can mend our relationships with our allies and show strength against our enemies.
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