This week Obama held a speech on the situation in Syria. Among other things, he said this:
“My fellow Americans. For nearly seven decades, the United States has been the anchor of global security.”
Not an anchor, but the anchor. Just to clarify. On he went:
“This has meant more than forging international agreements. It has meant enforcing them. The burdens of leadership are often heavy, but the world is a better place because we have borne them.”
I’m sure the person who wrote this speech felt pretty pleased after finishing that last sentence. Making the world a better place, even under the burdens of leadership. It makes it sound as if the US as a country has done the world a great favour merely by existing amongst us. We should be grateful.
But looking back (opposed to Obama, I think it’s useful sometimes to learn from history), I can’t say that my faith in American foreign policy is great. Rather than “anchor of global security”, another phrase comes to mind – double standards. The US has for decades been the most powerful country in the world. The land of the free. But its power hasn’t always done good. We all know that. There are important international conventions that the US still hasn’t ratified (like the Convention on the Rights of the Child). And even though they might ratify one, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll follow it. There have been wars and invasions based on lies. Thousands of lost and ruined lives. Torture. People are still being held, without charges, in Guantánamo Bay and at Bagram air base in Afghanistan. The list is long, and these aren’t small things. They’re exceptionally serious and cause great harm. And all of it creates hatred that will continue to cause harm into the future.
The US is obviously not alone in doing things like this. But they do proclaim something that few others do, and none to the same extent – exceptionalism. The idea that the United States is such a special and extraordinary country is a thought based on ignorance and denial. It surprises me that Obama could say this with a straight face:
“That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth.”
Who do you think you’re talking to? Don’t you think we have any sense of critical thinking? I listen to you in disbelief. Is this something a US president simply has to say from time to time, or do you actually believe it?
I sometimes wonder how US foreign policy is taught in American schools. It would be interesting to witness. I hope it isn’t based on your president’s view.
In a nutshell 