Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Obama and US influence abroad


In his State of the Union address, President Obama claimed that the influence of the United States of America is greater now than in many years.  He said:

“Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about. That’s not the message we get from leaders around the world, all of whom are eager to work with us. That’s not how people feel from Tokyo to Berlin; from Cape Town to Rio; where opinions of America are higher than they’ve been in years.”

Glenn Kessler made this observation: "Obama’s self-congratulatory tone aside, the most striking thing about this list is that it does not include any cities in the Islamic world. Obama had made a high-profile speech in Cairo in 2009 designed to bolster the U.S. image; judging by recent polling, his effort has been a failure."




2 comments:

George Patsourakos said...

President Obama does not have any support from the Islamic world (except perhaps for Saudi Arabia) because of his inflexible support for Israel with respect to Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Obama's unyielding support for Israel -- regardless of whether Israel is right or wrong -- has resulted in the U.S. losing the support of some Arab nations it had prior to his presidency.

Alice C. Linsley said...

Even the Israelis don't trust him.