Unlike many of my fellow conservatives who have made their voices loud and clear, I do not wish President Obama failure. In fact, I wish quite the opposite. I hope he improves the state of the economy, secures our borders and restores the dignity of America abroad. In the case of that last point, however, it's the manner in which he performs this restoration that concerns me.
At the end of the first 100 days of the Obama presidency, we can safely say that America's diplomatic involvement on the international stage is changing, but at what price to our image as Americans? We can acknowledge that the Bush administration made mistakes, but we cannot and should not acknowledge shame in being Americans for those reasons.
My problem with President Obama so far is that there's been a failure on his part to foster any pro-American sentiment.
On the contrary, it seems as if he's been an apologist for America, speaking about previous transgressions abroad without the bipartisan nature he promised in his campaign. Instead of showing pride in his country, the president has shown only regret for our past actions. This attitude combined with increased cooperation with countries seeking the downfall of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is probably the root of my frustration.
I was born and raised a military brat. In the situation created by that, interacting with people outside of the U.S. whose perspective differs completely from Americans, it's easy to become ambivalent about the foreign affairs of our country. Because I grew up overseas during the Bush years, the downfall of America's international reputation was quite apparent during my family's travels.
Friends of my family outside the military would often remark about how our previous president was a monkey, a buffoon and an ignoramus. It would've been all too easy to say that he was, but nonetheless George W. Bush was commander in chief, fairly elected and in service to his country. If there was one thing I can say I absolutely liked about George W. Bush, it's that he was unapologetically American. When he went overseas, the mission was to protect American interests and values and not to attempt to preserve some aesthetic of America's international reputation.
The reason why I'm bringing up George W. Bush is because we're failing to see the same idea of America preserved by President Obama. Instead of being firm with leaders of a firmly anti-American mindset like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he's shaking hands, smiling and taking photo opportunities with them.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't take up diplomatic relations with these countries and their leaders; what I'm trying to say is that we're giving them too soft of an impression of America on the international stage. When Chavez shakes Obama's hand with a smile one day, giving him a socialist manifesto as a gift, then turns around the next to verbally chastise him, not only does the president look foolish, the American people do as well. Handshake diplomacy is a suitable tactic for fostering relations with our allies, not for countries proceeding with plans to build nuclear weapons with enriched uranium or allowing the Russian navy to park their ships in South America.
But where does this all stem from? Why can our president not show pride in being the leader of the free world? There's a difference between humility and being shamefaced, and for the first 100 days it's been a tightrope that our new president has walked very carefully.
Though numerous members of the press have declared him savior for the United States already, I fail to see anything beyond a politician doing the best to fulfill the office he's sworn an oath to. Decisions like shutting down Abu Gharib prison and opening up the idea of prosecuting Bush administration officials have not only hurt the idea of national security in our country, but also virtually destroyed the chance of bipartisanship of Washington as well. If the wish of the Obama administration is truly to unite the country as they promised to try to do during their campaign, their number one interest should be protecting American priorities overseas.
This means maintaining the missile shield in Poland. This means allowing our navy to traverse the same waters they always have. This means continuing the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan. These priorities of America abroad translate into American security domestically, and our president and government should not have to apologize to anyone for upholding these priorities.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm sick of hearing Americans bemoaning the actions of their United States. We live in the best country in the world, and we should do everything in our power to preserve it, overseas and back stateside. If Obama wishes to kowtow to our opposition and give it a warm smile, that's his decision, not mine. I will apologize to no one for being who I am, who we are. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm American, and neither should you.