We can safely say that most of the world does not respect President Obama. His "red lines" are useless. His "threats" are laughed at. We are closing embassies around the world after President Obama told us that the war on terror was as good as over.
And he looks so weak when there is a thug like Putin on the other side of the table.
For example, the Cold War and USSR is history but Putin is boosting military ties with Cuba. What for? This is what "thugs" do when they sense weakness.
Putin is having a good time insulting Obama, as Michael Crowley reminds us today:
"The Cold War may be over. But America's relationship with Russia is about as warm as a Siberian pool party. And there's not much Obama can do about it. Some commentators are urging him to "man up and punch back." But Putin is not an easily intimidated man. Indeed some close observers openly wonder if he's altogether rational. One former senior Bush administration official recently described Putin to me as having transformed from confidence to arrogance to outright megalomania. (That's not to mention the well-publicized, often-shirtless "nonsense jackassery.") And much like China, Russia simply isn't a country America can bend to its will. Especially not when oil, one of the country's prime exports, are well over $100 a barrel, giving Russia the cash and comfort to project. And especially when America's reputation around the world remains, shall we say, problematic."
Yes, our options are limited but we would have a few more of them with a stronger president!
We are back to leadership 101. The US president must be respected and feared. Otherwise, he is useless on the world scene no matter how many times they scream "yes we can" in Paris or "we love you" in South Africa.
It's all about having "cards to play" and keeping your opponents guessing.
Unfortunately, President Obama does not have any cards to play, as Benny Avni wrote today:
"There are always excuses: America is broke; voters no longer want us to be the world's cop. And even if we did want it, what can we do? And so the onetime leader of the free world, the globe's only superpower, has no cards left to play -- not even to bring a wayward fugitive for trial."
Yes, that's the dilemma. He is not very respected!
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