Starting in November '79, or the Iranian hostage crisis, the Carter presidency was hit by a streak of bad "foreign" news.
Again, it started with the embassy takeover and Pres Carter's total ineptitude in allowing a foreign government to hold your diplomats hostage.
It was quickly followed by the USSR invasion of Afghanistan. It was another clear sign that nobody respected Pres. Carter, specially our enemies.
In 1980, we had the Mariel boat lift when the US allowed 100,000 Cubans to land in Florida's coasts. Again, there were no consequences on Castro's Cuba. How do you allow a neighbor to do that without consequences?
And so on! It was a year of bad foreign policy news.
It was also a year that no one felt that the US had a president willing to stand for anything, including the protection of its diplomats at the hands of "thugs" referred to as "students"!
Yes, the 1980 election was a lot about the US economy. However, it was also about the perception that Pres Carter was weak and indecisive.
Today, we face a rather amazing set of circumstances. From Syria to Egypt to Pakistan to an Israeli attack on Iran, we live in a world desperately yearning for an American president who will lead rather than read from a teleprompter.
Today, we have a president who is desperate to be "loved" but nobody respects him.
Add to the Middle East the financial crisis in Europe! We are watching European governments argue with each other and looking for the US, or the leader of the free world, to lead.
Instead, the world watches Pres BO sitting in the sidelines and hoping that the voters will buy his latest "class warfare" speech.
I agree with Nile Gardiner from the UK:
"He has become by any measure an embarrassing irrelevance to the tragedy unfolding across the Atlantic, one that will have major repercussions for the US economy for many years to come."
Here is the bottom line: We are headed into a very scary period and everybody knows it.
Furthermore, everybody also knows that the guy in the White House isn't fit for the job. He was great at giving speeches and telling everybody what they wanted to hear. What we need today is a man who makes decisions and defends US interests.
Click here for our discussion with Barry Casselman:
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