President Obama may not have won the world’s chest thumping
award, but he polling near to where he stood
when he was first elected and
Obama has a much higher favorable rating than did his predecessor,
George W Bush . As standing in the world goes, per Gallup’s poll of 137 countries, US leadership had the highest approval
ratings of five global powers (Germany, China, The European Union..and at the
bottom, Russia). Good PR counts for something. Credibility and respect from the
rest of the world ‘s streets affect how
their leaders behave.
“ Feckless”, “ leader from behind”,” weak”, “ “diminishing
US power”, “ carrying a soft stick, but speaking loudly” are epitaphs slung at Obama. A Pew Research Center
poll, November 2013, found that “ 80 percent of Republicans (and 56
percent of Democrats) said they believe that the U.S. is less respected by
other countries than in the past.”
While
Americans want less global involvement, world perception of US leadership did
take a dip, but it improved in 2013.
The Gallup
poll found “ median approval of
U.S. leadership across …. 130 countries stood at 46%, up from 41% in 2012” It
was 49% at the beginning of Pres. Obama’s presidency . George W Bush polled in the 25% approval range in 2008. The lowest opinions of the US are held currently in the middle East, but Asia and Europe
improved the most from 2012.
A survey of global attitudes released by Pew in July 2013
found that “half or more of those surveyed in 2013
expressed a favorable opinion of the U.S. in 28 of the 38 nations polled. That’s markedly better
than under Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush. In its 2008 poll, Pew found only nine of 23
nations polled reported half or more residents with a favorable opinion of the
U.S.”
Why? There are plenty of reasons why Pres.
Obama’s popularity should continue low in the middle East. He got Bin Laden, pulling
off a sneak incursion into Pakistan. He urged Western style democracy but did not
do much to back movements in Egypt and elsewhere and he appeared powerless to
shape the results. Gitmo was not closed down. Helping Syrian rebels was a well intentioned beginning, but it was
too late: Al Qaeda affiliates hijacked it from
the moderates. Ben Ghazi never
landed in Obama’s lap, but the messaging was bungled .
Elsewhere,
Obama’s threat of sanctions to
stop Russia from keeping Ukrainians from choosing their own destiny have not yet been backed by Europe enough to be effective (Germany may
change that, per recent Bloomberg News reports) .Snowden disclosed US spying. Our
relations with Russia fell apart. Still, per Gallup polls, improvement came
because of our success in helping Myanmar open up to democracy and our
improving relations with Iran.
A common
thread of these successes and failures illustrate President Obama’s oft stated intent of working through alliances, pulling out of
past conflicts ,giving diplomacy a chance first, quietly using the military and
covert big sticks, and letting emerging democracies shape their own destinies.
These policies have at least won him the world’s PR war.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/07/18
http://www.people-press.org/2013/12/03/public-sees-u-s-power-declining-as-support-for-global-engagement-slips/
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