US foreign policy under Obama

[mrswdk]

It's been a good month for the 'change you can believe in'. Obie's been:

- indiscriminately killing Pakistani civilians in illegal drone strikes
- tapping Angela Merkel's phone, spying on all Western allies
- snatching people from the streets of Libya

He sure knows how to make friends, huh?

[chang50]

It's been a good month for the 'change you can believe in'. Obie's been:

- indiscriminately killing Pakistani civilians in illegal drone strikes
- tapping Angela Merkel's phone, spying on all Western allies
- snatching people from the streets of Libya

He sure knows how to make friends, huh?

And not the remotest chance of him or anyone else being brought before the International Court of Justice for these crimes...

[thegreekdog]

Didn't a bunch of non-US folks throw big parties when Obama was elected president the first time around?

From wiki (I thought these were interesting and somewhat naive):

This is the first day of the new era we have been yearning for... Barack Obama could bring about a sea of change in the Middle East.

I congratulate the people of the U.S. for electing a president who is ready to work with the world. At the very least Obama has an attachment to the third world.

There is absolutely no doubt that the United States is going to change after yesterday.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai asked Obama to put an end to civilian casualties.

In Berlin, about 1,500 guests attended an inaugural ball in honor of Obama's inauguration, possibly the largest such event outside the United States.

The great nation of Iran welcomes basic and fair changes in U.S. policies and behaviors, especially in the region.

This consituted the first time since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 that a leader of Iran sent his congratulations to the American president.

President Mahmud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority expressed hope that President Obama would help "speed up efforts to achieve peace."

[I hope that Obama will] change the U.S. foreign policy from a policy of war and siege to one of diplomacy and dialogue.

In an international poll conducted by the BBC World Service, all 22 countries preferred Obama, with margins ranging from 9% in Indiana to 82% in Canada. 49% of respondents preferred Obama, 12% preferred McCain, and the [smart] 40% expressed no preference.

One wise comment from an Iraqi resident:

If Obama can do as well as he talks, then all our problems are over. Obama is a good man, but many people in Iraq believe all American presidents are the same and that we are a playground for their interests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internatio ... tion,_2008

[muy_thaiguy]

Yeah, even a bunch of Brits, Canadians, and others on here were saying things very similar to those. I said he was another politician, but could give pretty speeches, and then was subsequently told he would change everything for the best like shut down Git-mo (still waiting on that), pulling out of Iraq (did that, and now they're right back where they were, if not worse), nearly getting involved in the hot mess that is Syria...

I can't really complain much about the Obamacare, as that opened a doorway for me that wasn't there before. I've had 5 knee surgeries between high school and now, and prior to it, the only insurance I could get stipulated I had to always have a class and it was either every 6 months or a year to pay, and it doesn't cover prescriptions, which isn't that bad right now, but its hit me hard in the past. Now I'm able (and going to) change insurance since I can't be turned down for something out of my hands.

[oVo]

He's just the President and the rest of the inbred political system
in Washington remains the same with the election of Obama.
So what kind of altered foreign policy were you expecting?

SAMO, samo.

[thegreekdog]

He's just the President and the rest of the inbred political system
in Washington remains the same with the election of Obama.
So what kind of altered foreign policy were you expecting?

SAMO, samo.

I wasn't expecting any altered foreign policy. But the president conned (sorry) a lot of voters and a lot of foreign nationals, including foreign leaders (see above) into the idea that he would change U.S. foreign policy. I believe you voted for him twice, did he con you too? Or did you know he wasn't going to do anything different?