So Far, So Good

North Korea, Russia, Iran, China, Libya: Obama is stumbling from one international crisis to another never resolving any one of them before a new one appears. But then, he didn't run on his foreign policy expertise, did he? He ran on a pledge to fix the economy. How is that going by the way? Well, at least we have gays in the military and health care reform, that's something.

It Sounds Good

While in Seoul, Korea last Saturday, President Obama said that the United States did not use its military might to "impose things" on others. I have to wonder: doesn't he read the newspaper? Has he been living under a rock for the last 15 years?  Hasn't the threat to use force been a staple of U.S. foreign policy for decades?  Perhaps he believes that the U.S. use of force under the flag of the U.N. or NATO doesn't count because the U.N. and NATO do not act to impose the will of the U.S. on others but the will of the international community. If so, that is a sleight of hand because it ignores the fact that the use of force by the U.N or NATO is nearly always at the behest of the U.S. and never occurs without U.S. consent. Neither the U.N. nor NATO has ever once used force for purposes at odds with U.S. interests.

You can be confident that the president's statement was made for propaganda purposes in furtherance the image that, unlike other nations, the U.S. always acts with the best of intentions and sincerest emotions in pursuit of justice and the common interests of mankind. You can also be confident that the president's statement was also made with Russia's recent actions in mind. The idea that the U.S. is unique among nations because we never act out of selfishness or calculation but out of principle is important to Americans. It is part of what makes us feel unique. It is what allows us to see our bombs as good bombs rather than bad ones.