As Russian troops continue to mass along Ukraine’s border, President Barack Obama hesitates in stepping up assistance for the embattled country because he doesn’t appreciate America’s leadership in the world, Sen. John McCain said.
President Obama “does not appreciate, in my view, the importance of American leadership. That we are an exceptional nation,” the Arizona Republican told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday.
Leadership does not mean that Americans “fight every war,” McCain said. It does mean “peace through strength” to assist “people who were struggling for freedom.”
McCain said it is time for the United States to act to stave off further aggression from Russian President Vladimir Putin. He indicated there were a number of options available to assist Ukraine, short of sending in American troops.
“There are some sanctions that we can impose, which would give the Europeans a choice. If we sanction some of their financial institutions, they might have to decide whether they’re going to do business with Russia or do business with us. There’s a lot of things we can do,” he said.
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Senator McCain doesn’t appreciate that it’s no longer 1985. The world has changed considerably, and the United States is no longer a hyperpower. As for being a superpower, we are only the largest among several nations and regions that are now powerful. We can no longer act unilaterally and expect other countries to go along, or even approve.
Worse yet, everyone knows that no matter what President Obama tries to do, the Republicans in the House of Representatives will try to sabotage it, just to make sure that he doesn’t get any “victories,” even if the victory is one for the country as a whole. Sen. McCain may be a patriot, but he doesn’t understand the mindset of those in Congress who would harm the country just to harm the President. He means well, but he doesn’t understand that this President doesn’t have the free hand that previous Presidents did.
McCain does not understand that US power is not unlimited. He makes the same error that his fellow neocons make, which is also the same error that the Chomskyites on the left make. I am very grateful that we did not elect him President even though I’ve always been an admirer; I don’t want to think about the number of countries the US would have invaded by now and how totally trashed the US economy would be as a result.
Sorry, Oldtimer, I don’t buy it.
What has changed considerably in the world to cause the U.S. not to be a hyperpower is Obama’s presidency. It is his words and actions – or rather, inactions – that have brought the U.S. to its knees as far as foreign policy goes. He has turned on allies – like Poland and Czechoslovakia – and extended his hand to enemies, of which Iran is only the most extreme example.
McCain is 100% right. There is much the U.S. could do to without sending in as much as one soldier. But Obama doesn’t care to. Do you really believe that if Obama would toughen sanctions against Russia and/or use diplomacy to flood the European market with oil and gas like Reagan did, that Republicans in Congress would oppose him? Puh-lease.
The problem is not that it’s no longer 1985. The problem is that it’s no longer 1999, either. The rogue nations of the world might have hated George Bush, but they thought more than twice before starting up with him. They have equal hate for Obama – but they laugh at him and his empty threats.
#3 – While I obviously don’t agree with you, you do seem to be able to express yourself in good, grammatical English, which is not so common among anti-Obama posters. You should realize, however, that the real drop in US influence came about as the result of the second Iraq war. Not only did we go into Iraq on falsified evidence, we totally botched the occupation, found ourselves faced with an insurgency we could not control, suffered an international scandal with the Abu Ghreib revelations, and are still working to rehabilitate the disabled casualties of that war.
President Obama can’t take any bold steps, steps that would put our soldiers in harm’s way, because the House of Representatives refuses to support him. It is common knowledge in the world that some members of the US Congress would do anything to sabotage the President, including going against the country’s best interests.
Oldtimer,
I think the majority of “anti-Obama posters” might be offended by your comment regarding grammar. We may not all be as highly educated as “pro-Obama posters” are, but we aren’t stupid.
Secondly; Had the House allowed anything that the left wanted, our country would be in ruins by now. Our guaranteed rights would be infringed upon (as they are RIGHT NOW in Utah)if not removed. Mr. Obama is less of a leader than his electronic shtender is.
Question: Do you have a son or a daughter in the military? My son has deployed 4 times in the war zone, hurt twice. He asks me the same questions I’ll ask you: What are we doing? If the war on Terror is over, why aren’t all of our troops home?
Other questions you can answer for me: Why are we supporting Iran but not Isreal? Why are we not securing our borders? Why are we not seemingly worried about the anti-government (and probably mostly not even American) military camps within our own borders? Why are we spending billions of dollars to spy on our own people? Why are we more concerned with our golf game and our vacations than our unemployment and tax rate? And our budget? And our energy options? And our….. ….. …..?
I believe that our country is tiring of this mess that the left has once again created; I also believe that those wrongs will be righted in the near future. Unfortunately, your president and his friends have messed things up so badly, it might take decades to fix.
Mazel Tov.