Barack Obama makes a tremendous connection with the American people. I felt I knew him. I remember during the 2012 campaign hearing a radio show, man-in-the-street interview kind of thing. A small business owner said, "I feel like I could call him up and say, 'Barack, could you help me out a little bit.' I know I can't do that, but I feel like I could.'"
Yet, who of Obama's counterparts on the world stage feels that way about him? Not Putin. Not Xi, not Hu. Who is Obama's Tony Blair? Not David Cameron. Not Angela Merkel. Not Francois Hollande. Not Benjamin Netanyahu.
He has nobody. Barack Obama has nobody on the world stage with whom he connects as he does with the American people. They don't know what to make of him: the Chinese. They find him weak: the Chinese again, and the Russians. He's pedantic: the British. Not wholly competent: the Chinese, the Russians, and a respected American observer, Bob Woodward. They laugh at him over his handling of Edward Snowden's flight. Obama provokes the kind of contempt that only Jimmy Carter did. And, as Carter had with Iran, Barack Obama has in Egypt his own incompetently handled desert fiasco. He has no deep beliefs: that comes from his own former and perhaps future advisor, Lawrence Summers. He's not trustworthy: After the Snowden revelations nobody on the world stage trusts him. A larger segment of America distrusts him too.
Yet, who of Obama's counterparts on the world stage feels that way about him? Not Putin. Not Xi, not Hu. Who is Obama's Tony Blair? Not David Cameron. Not Angela Merkel. Not Francois Hollande. Not Benjamin Netanyahu.
He has nobody. Barack Obama has nobody on the world stage with whom he connects as he does with the American people. They don't know what to make of him: the Chinese. They find him weak: the Chinese again, and the Russians. He's pedantic: the British. Not wholly competent: the Chinese, the Russians, and a respected American observer, Bob Woodward. They laugh at him over his handling of Edward Snowden's flight. Obama provokes the kind of contempt that only Jimmy Carter did. And, as Carter had with Iran, Barack Obama has in Egypt his own incompetently handled desert fiasco. He has no deep beliefs: that comes from his own former and perhaps future advisor, Lawrence Summers. He's not trustworthy: After the Snowden revelations nobody on the world stage trusts him. A larger segment of America distrusts him too.
