Obama, Environment, and the World Opinion of the US

I believe that we are witnessing the end of a Fable. During the Bush 43 years, there were 2 Fables regarding world opinion of the US constantly displayed. The first is that Bush destroyed the reputation of the US in the world. But the corollary to that is the Fable that America is the Shining Light of the World, admired by all. Even an Amnesty International executive bemoaned that the US was such an admired country and had fallen so far. This is especially funny, as Amnesty International has criticized the US during its entire existence.

The fact is that the rest of the world never had the US on such a high pedestal. Oh sure, many have a favorable opinion of the US but people tend to understand that the US has problems and is not universal loved. The problem with the Fable is that many Americans actually believed it. Obama seems to have believed it. And the result of this belief is another belief that the world will follow the US once we put our ship back on course. Nonsense. It is harder than that.

Obama appears to think, as a result of the myth of US superiority, that his presence along will bring a Global Warming agreement. Now that myth is destroyed. Obama could have gotten an agreement on Climate and really changed the world if his actions matched his rhetoric. If the US really cared about Climate Change than the US should have stepped up and done a whole lot more than assist in raising $100 billion a year for developing countries. That is chum change. And apparently the US was only planning on $10 billion from itself.

If Climate Change is the threat that Obama thinks it is, the US should have pledged much more. Currently we are spending $5 billion a day more than our income. We had a deficit of $1,800 billion in FY 2009. The federal government budget is over $3 trillion. And Obama wants to spend $10 billion on the MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD?
No one seems to know where that $1.8 trillion deficit went. It did not go for infrastructure improvements and repair. It did not go for education. It did not go for environmental projects. It did not go for health care. All of that stuff hasn't even been passed into law yet. It just disappeared. How does he plan on paying for the important stuff when money is being frittered away?