Reasons of Culture

The American President?
William Katz
Political Mavens.com

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What is the problem here? The problem is that the foreign policy of the United states, under Barack Hussein Obama Jr., can be summarized as follows: Punish our friends, reward our enemies. We have seen this now for more than a year, and the resulting gain for the United States is: nothing.

It would be bad enough if this policy were simply the result of the latest realpolitik theory. This is not the first era, after all, in which being a friend of the United States has had its dangers. In 1956, President Eisenhower, of all people, turned on Britain, France and Israel for their attempt to secure the Suez Canal in Egypt. (He later expressed some regret over his action.) And Jimmy Carter did not inspire confidence among our West European allies.But there is a difference between those episodes, and others like them, and today. Some administrations have occasionally distanced themselves from traditional allies for reasons, often misguided, of policy.

The Obama administration is distancing itself from American allies for reasons of culture. This president barely tolerates his own country. He has little use for its allies, many of which share Western values and ideals. The president, despite his denials, is a man of the Third World. He sees countries like Britain as colonialists, even though the colonial era ended many decades ago.

While he is not a Muslim by religion, Obama is a man with a Muslim cultural background, giving him an affinity for nations that have traditionally been hostile to the United States. His speech last year in Cairo contained more groveling than Neville Chamberlain's remarks at Munich.