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The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

Obama’s foreign policy makes America appear weak

Just prior to Halloween, something scary was happening. President Obama was ranked by Forbes magazine as the second most powerful person in the world behind Russian President Vladimir Putin, the second time this has occurred during Obama’s presidency.

Obama has been quickly sliding down the popularity poll while Edward Snowden, the NSA whistle-blower, is currently being nominated for the European Union’s top human rights award, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

In addition, France has taken the strongest stance in Geneva at the nuclear talks with Iran, and the U.S. has let Russia look like the victor in Syria. Congress is deadlocked and the one person who may be able to deliver some progress and optimism has simply let Congress lead itself. Obama has been nothing but a negotiator, and what America needs today is a leader. One might wish that had Hillary Clinton won in 2008, or perhaps even Mitt Romney in 2012, the U.S. would not be letting Russia take charge in Syria and France would not be left to lead a tough line against Iran by themselves.

Obama is a people pleaser, and one who just can’t realize that not everyone can be pleased. The late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said that “consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects. If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

Thatcher said it right. What Obama is doing across the globe, and even on the domestic level, is accomplishing nothing and disappointing everyone. It’s time that we acknowledge that Snowden needs to be pardoned and that all he was trying to accomplish was a better America in which everyone’s rights were protected from the government. The difference between Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is that Assange was deliberately trying to hurt the United States and in no way wished to paint a positive picture for our future.

It’s also time to acknowledge that the U.S. does not negotiate with rogue nations. Iran and Syria are both breaking international law and countries like Russia and China should not be allowed to yield our mission in the slightest.

The U.S. has the largest and most powerful military in the world, and it is time we use it to coerce our foes into meeting our demands. It is this lack of attitude that has led Obama to being viewed as second on the world stage. We won the Cold War, and it’s time we put Russia in its place and no longer allow them to look like freedom fighters as we continue to prevent Snowden from returning to the United States in peace and continue to allow Syria to look like a Russian responsibility.

Russia is a hypocrite, one who allows gays to be discriminated against and punished for being themselves and an Olympics host that allows corruption like the ocean allows salt.

The U.S. has made mistakes before and during the Obama administration, and we must acknowledge this. Obama cannot play stupid any longer by claiming that his administration had no knowledge on events such as the NSA leaks.

Obama must own up to his mistakes on foreign policy and apologize to America for helping make us look like the world’s biggest fool. If all else fails, we can at least hope for a strong turnaround with Hillary Clinton or Chris Christie in 2016, both of whom prefer to bite the bullet rather than dodging it.

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