The Absurdity of Obama's Citizen of the World View

Defenders of the Bush administration point to the fact that we haven't been attacked since 9/11 as one of his best accomplishments. Now, it remains debateable how much of an accomplishment this is and how much this will help his legacy. It is of course beyond debate that we haven't been hit since 9/11.

Barack Obama sees the world in a different way. Regardless of their effectiveness, Barack Obama sees Bush's tough anti terror tactics as harming our world image. This, Obama sees, as much more damaging, Furthermore, he is either willing to risk American lives or he simply doesn't believe that any of these tactics saved lives. Now, it has long been established that Iyman Faris was stopped from blowing up the Brooklyn Bridge in part due to the terrorist surveillance program, or warrantless wiretaps. The U.S. received intelligence that the Brooklyn Bridge might be a target. The NSA began intercepting phone calls from Pakistan in which the words "Brooklyn Bridge" (which apparently doesn't translate) and eventually authorities were lead to Faris. In his place, they found plans for the bridge along with bomb making materials that experts later confirmed would have blown up the bridge.

It's also been widely reported that waterboarding eventually broke Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, mastermind of 9/11, and the information we received from him lead to a plethora of intelligence.

As such, if Obama thinks that these techniques didn't save lives, he is taking a massive risk with American lives. With that risk in play, it must be examined if appeasing world opinion is so important. Watching the current conflict in Gaza, world opinion is generally condemning of Israel. They call their response disproportionate and some even call it a genocide. World opinion would have us believe that terrorists can launch rockets at civilians at will and a Democracy should only be allowed to counter in some sort of tit for tat manner. The same world opinion called Ronald Reagan a cowboy right until the Berlin Wall came down. The same world opinion cheered on Neville Chamberlain while he sacrificed Czechoslovakia. To me, world opinion doesn't necessarily have much credibility.

In fact, world opinion has any aggressive counter terrorist action as out of bounds. There is a larger question. Who cares? Why is it so important that some French person on the street likes America? What Barack Obama will soon realize is that world opinion is with him as long as he does as the world wants. I know a lot of pretty girls like this. They love you as long as you shower them with adoration but as soon as you say something negative you are suddenly a leper.

More than that, world opinion doesn't necessarily translate into any geopolitical advantage. Does anyone believe that the French, Spanish and Germans will suddenly commit more troops and resources to the GWOT now that Barack Obama is President. The fact is that the world criticizes the U.S. until they need something and then they demand it. I also know a lot of pretty girls that act like that. To me, the idea of making foreign policy based on world opinion is ludicrous. The rest of the world does no heavy lifting. They simply do heavy criticizing. That's easy. They leave the difficult tasks to the U.S. That's just the nature of the beast when you are the world's only superpower. If that's the case, their opinion should mean absolutely nothing in determining policy especially when that policy puts lives in danger.

On top of all of this, countries that practice much more tolerant practices are not immune from attacks. No country is more tolerant of the Muslim world than France and yet that hasn't stopped multiple riots. The Netherlands is also tolerant but that didn't stop an islamist from killing Theo Van Gogh. Writers in Denmark are under constant threat of death because they dared to criticize the prophet Muhammad. Spain, Britain, Jordan, and the Phillipines have all been hit with terorist attacks. Most of these nations have criticized the U.S. for its own tough anti terror policies.

Finally, world opinion is one of those intangible things. When Barack Obama says that our image in the world has been harmed by Bush's anti terror tactics, that is awfully simplistic. The reality is that our critics are louder than our allies. In reality, Bush has gained plenty of allies despite, or maybe because of, his tough tactics. While most of Western Europe has criticized, most of the former Soviet Bloc has become much greater allies under his Presidency. The President has also secured the friendship of Colombia. Beyond that, his policies have created new allies in Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course, those that scream about world opinion don't seem to notice these allies. If Barack Obama wants to be a world philanthropist, let him govern as a citizen of the world. Now that he is President of the U.S., I for one hope that world opinion plays little if any role in his decision making.