Posted on 03/23/2007 1:42:17 PM PDT by Railroad
World likes U.S. only if we're weak Leadership isn't about image
By Luke Boggs For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/23/07
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says that one of his top priorities as president would be improving America's popularity overseas. This, to me, demonstrates profoundly why McCain should not be president.
Global leadership, after all, is not a popularity contest. And pursuing popularity around the world would be a terribly counterproductive and ultimately fruitless policy.
It would be bad public policy because it would involve America caving in on some important but ultimately secondary reasons for our unpopularity.
We would have to, first and foremost, abandon any national skepticism about the profound and utter fraud of man-made global warming. There's no denying the fever sweeping through the professors, actors and left-wing politicians who want nothing more than to tell the rest of us how we should live our lives.
Gaining popularity would also mean being still more reticent and halting in our pursuit of the Islamic jihadists eager and willing to do everything in their power to —- God forbid —- level the Sears Tower or lay waste to an entire city with nuclear or biological weapons.
Like our faint-hearted European friends, McCain is very worried, for example, about the image of keeping enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay. It would be a tremendous mistake for America to abandon Gitmo and transfer hardened terrorists out of Cuba in a vain effort to win plaudits with the Europeans.
I say let the terrorists rot in Guantanamo. And let the Europeans and "60 Minutes" howl. We are a serious nation, engaged in the serious business of trying to kill or capture the bad guys before they can do us more harm.
McCain should be more concerned about avoiding the images of another 9/11 than fretting over the image of hard-core jihadists stuck in Guantanamo indefinitely.
In the end, America is unpopular because ours is the most powerful, wealthiest nation on Earth. Which means any effort to fix America's popularity problem would involve becoming less powerful and less wealthy.
In the flip side to this, you can see why America was never more popular than in the days after 9/11. Because we were seen as helpless victims of terror.
God forbid we should ever be that popular again, because we would likely have to suffer a blow even more catastrophic than the one that brought down the World Trade Center and smashed into the Pentagon. And I don't want that to happen. Not ever.
Luke Boggs of Alpharetta is a corporate speechwriter and communications consultant.
McLame has long ago gone over the edge. If it were not for the MSM promoting him as a Republican presidential candidate, he would be forgotten long ago.
To the liberals, image and appearances are everything. That's why the media is so firmly in the Dem camp. They all worship on the same alter--the alter of false images.
It's also why they consider speaking ability to be the most important characteristic of a good President. Nevermind that Hitler and Castro were also good public speakers.
And then we continue to get disturbing evidence that the exisiting Administration can simply WISH away the threat of China's Communist enmity, and by refusing to acknowledge it make it go away...appeasement back in vogue:
Friday, March 23, 2007 9:32 a.m. EDT
Gen. Pace: China Missile Test 'Confusing'
China's anti-satellite missile test in January sent a confusing message to the world about its military plans, the United States' top military officer said on Friday, urging Beijing to be more open.
Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States would like to observe more Chinese exercises and suggested a hot line between the two militaries could be useful.
China shot down an aging weather satellite on January 11, but waited more than a week before officially confirming it. The government denies the test could stoke an arms race in space, and repeated that it opposes using weapons in space.
Pace said he told his Chinese counterparts it was essential that China let the world know its military intentions.
"I used the example of the anti-satellite test as how sometimes the international community can be confused, because it was a surprise, and it wasn't clear what their intent was," he told a news conference during his first visit to China.
"And when things are not clear, and there are surprises, then it tends to confuse people and raise suspicions," Pace added.
"You don't have to agree or disagree with any particular country's objective, but it's very helpful to understand what those objectives are and why they're going in that direction," said Pace, who leaves China on Sunday.
But he said the Chinese had given him no further details on the test, nor had they said what their intention was in carrying it out.
Analysts say China could use its ability to down satellites to counter any spy satellite support that Washington might offer Taiwan if war were to break out between the self-ruled island and the mainland.
China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Beijing has vowed to bring the self-governed democracy of 23 million people back under mainland rule, by force if necessary.
The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognizing "one China", but is Taiwan's main arms supplier and is obliged by the Taiwan Relations Act to help the island defend itself.
Pace also said it was important Beijing provided more information on its military budget, which will rise 17.8 percent this year to almost $45 billion.
It was important to know "not only how much of a nation's resources are being put into the budget, but what is that money buying? What is the intent of that buying?", said the Vietnam War veteran.
Pace, who described his talks with Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and other Chinese officials as friendly and candid, said setting up a hot line to avoid misunderstandings would be a good step forward, as would doing officer exchanges.
"The biggest fear I have of the future is miscalculation, misunderstanding based on misinformation," he said.
On Taiwan, a major irritant in Sino-U.S. ties, the general said he repeated the official U.S. line to the Chinese, which is that Washington does not support the island's independence.
Pace said he did not believe war over Taiwan was inevitable.
"I believe that there are good-faith efforts amongst all the leadership to prevent that, and that's what we can focus on - not how to fight each other, but how to prevent military action," he said.
Only statement in this article with which I disagree. I say start emptying Gitmo by hanging them high.
It's about time the rest of the world starts thinking about improving their image to us. Not the other way around. There is no way this man will be POTUS.
I shudder to think how much it will cost us in the taxpayer funded, frequent-flier miles that will be racked up, sending First-Lady Bill around the world to apologize for the misguided and ignorant American Voter's decision to elect "W", all while he pockets million$ in personal fund$
So, McPain wants the U.S. to be more popular, well liked by such as those whom have already given up their freedoms and slipped into the abyss of Socialism.
Their perspective of the World as tainted as it is cannot be a goal we should consider attempting to emulate for pleasantries.
McPain is fragmenting.
He looks dead. Are you sure he is still breathing?
We don't need McLame tying the hands of our troops and screwing up this country. I've set my vote sights on an unknown that I met who is running providing we can get more support for Dr. Hugh Court. We need a person who is not a Professional POLITITION, but
Senator John McCain is spewing the same nonsense that his fellow Senator, John Kerry did in 2004 about regaining our "popularity" and eschewing "unilateralism" and letting the United Nations make decisions for the USA. Stick a fork in McCain, he's done!!
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