Op-Ed: Weakness breeds contempt
Some wonder why it gladdens others that America will not host the 2016 Olympic Games. It's not that citizens of other countries don't like us.
Photo courtesy Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
A shot from the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China
Just travel outside the U.S. and you will personally experience the hospitality shown by people in other countries to Americans.
No, the problem is we are showing weakness and those who would take our place as "king of the jungle" don't just sense it, they see it, sense it, taste it and recognize that the opportunity they have waited so long for is palpable in it's closeness. Now is their time. President Obama has ceded our position through his rank appeasement of Russia, China, Iran and others.
Putin kicked sand in Obama's face and Obama backed down from the European missile defense system while doublecrossing Poland and Czechoslavakia. For fear of hurting the feelings of the Red Chinese he put off his meeting with the Dalai Lama. To keep up the pretense that we have global influence he allows Iran to get closer every day to acquiring a nuclear bomb. North Korea threatens our allies in the region with nuclear weapons and missile overflights while we give them "stern warnings". He procrastinates, convenes meetings to question the wisdom and experience of his own General in Afghanistan while our servicemen and women are blown to bits.
It's clear from our President's false starts and failures to think about the consequences of his actions that we are adrift and rudderless. And those who are ambitious are acting to ascend to the role of world leaders because that is the nature of ambition. Couple that with whatever it is in human nature which produces schadenfreude and you can easily see why others are snickering over Obama's fumbled "Hail Mary pass" of an Olympics pitch.
President Obama has behaved like a megalomaniac from his first day in office. That was easy to do riding the wave of popularity which swept him into office. But none of his grandiose plans have come to fruition. He is encountering resistance on all fronts. Yet he carries on pompously declaring this or that and delivering on nothing.
Acting like a hero is not the same as actually being a hero. Heroism always requires action.
