It’s been a popular refrain from the right that the world sees us as weaker under Obama. I think these results show that this is wildly false. In 2007, only 26% of international respondents had confidence that Bush would “do the right thing in world affairs”, while 69% had no confidence. In 2013, 55% of international respondents had confidence that Obama would “do the right thing in world affairs”, while 35% had no confidence.
The vast majority of countries, including almost all of our allies, are far more confident that Obama would do the right thing as opposed to Bush with regards to world affairs. So Republicans like Cheney are way, way wrong here.
I think the conservative pundits peddling this story are probably technically right. International confidence in Obama probably has declined since 2009. But I can’t imagine there’s any way it will ever sink as low as international confidence in Bush was.
“Do the right thing,” and “appearing weaker” are not necessarily mutually contradictory. Particularly if the people being polled think “Do the right thing” means “don’t flex our military muscles.”
Absolutely. Having a strong military is part of being strong. But ‘flexing our military muscles’? That can make us stronger, sure (like in WWII), but it can also make us weaker (like in Vietnam, or in the most recent Iraq war). In the oughts, it made us weaker.
So if all I hear is ‘Bush flexed our military muscles more than Obama’, that tells me nothing about under which President we were stronger.
They’re not presenting it in a way that makes Obama look good. They don’t compare Obama to Bush and point out Obama has greater approval. They compare Obama in 2009 to Obama in 2014 and point out that his approval has declined.
Remember, the Europeans were so hysterically glad to see Bush out of office that they gave Obama a Nobel Peace Prize for, essentially, nothing. People in other countries hated and reviled Bush much more than Americans did. Even most conservatives now think he was a well-intentioned fuckup, at best. I’m sure there’s a certain core of Republicans that still think he was a great president, but hey, idiots gotta idiot.
Are you kidding? The Taliban LURVED the Bush Administration! They were mindless idiots that could be shoved all over the place, an elephant that could be goaded into stomping its own allies flat. I don’t buy the notion that Obama was ever a three-dimensional chess player, but the Bush Administration, in terms of international politics, was the sort of gang that lost consistently at tic-tac-toe even when you spotted them the first move.
National leaders whose interests were at odd with America’s, including Putin, would MUCH rather have idiots like the Bush Administration to push around than have to mess with a halfway competent administration like Obama’s.
Surely you’ve read Presidential Power. Popularity is the very core of power and strength. The best allies are those who trust each other and believe they are working towards a common goal. The weakest are those where you must resort to force to convince them to assist you.
No, I don’t say popular. You are incorrect again. How can you possibly be this wrong so damn often?
The survey asks if the survey-taker is ‘confident that the President will do the right thing in world affairs’. That’s not a question of popularity – that’s a question of confidence to take the correct action.
And I care because…? Lol, Obama sucks. I’m glad there are millions of sheep out there. I’m pretty sure the leaders of China, Russia, North Korea, Syria and the rest of them also prefer Obama to Bush.
Why would they be peddling a story that makes Obama look good?!