General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Yeah, I've been critical of much of what Obama has done. Here's why-- [View all]brush
(53,776 posts)As much as we like to think the President has the power to accomplish all that he/we wants by edit (not to mention all the GOP obstructionism) just remember we dont exactly live in the United States of Altruistic Utopia. Lets get real and understand who we are and how we are viewed in the world. We live in the United States of America, perhaps the most rapacious and imperialistic country to have arisen in history. Since 1893 when we first flexed our imperialistic muscles with a Navy gunboat and overthrew the monarchy in Hawaii at the behest of ex-pat American sugar growers who wanted free reign to operate their plantations, and on through our Cuban double cross at the end of the Spanish American War, add the Philipines, Nicaragua, Haiti, Guatemala, Panama, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Chile, Iran (helping the British to overthrow a democratically elected leader, intent on nationalizing its oil industry, in order to install the compliant Shah), Viet Nam, Grenada, and finally Iraq, we have extended the outrageous conceit of Manifest Destiny to a global scale to invade at will, occupy or foment coups in foreign lands in order to gain control of their natural resources for huge profits for our corporations like Dole, United Fruit, Standard Oil, Anaconda Mining, etc. These foreign interventions have been cloaked in the mantle of national security and furtherance of Democracy of course to sell them to ordinary Americans needed for military cannon fodder. And many of us have bought it for over a century, some of us, not so much.
But to think that one man can change our foreign policy direction, which has operated, quite frankly, basically the same under either party for decades, in three and a half years is unrealistic and naïve. I of course am not privy to foreign policy goings-on but I would think that sometime soon after a new, first-term president is inaugurated a briefing takes place where corporate and military leaders make it clear to the newby that U.S. interests (that reads corporate interests) will remain the direction that our foreign policy takes and any attempts to change it could be dangerous (i.e. JFK). He/she would most likely be told that he/she HAS SOME LATITUDE IN DOMESTIC POLICY like civil rights, healthcare, social issues, etc. but to steer clear of wholesale foreign policy changes and military funding cuts (war is very profitable for corporations after all).
President Obama. He is the first president that has invested in and will continue to champion green issues and perhaps move us away from having to pursue our invasive foreign policy direction towards, and lets be clear, non-white countries, as we will develop our own domestic alternative energy sources. Other presidents to come could follow his lead