SPIEGEL: Why do Europeans react so positively to him?
Krauthammer: Because Europe, for very understandable reasons, has been chaffing for 60 years under the protection, but also the subtle or not so subtle domination of America. Europeans like to see the big guy cut down to size, it's a natural reaction. You know, Europe ran the world for 400 or 500 years until the civilizational suicide of the two World Wars. And then America emerged as the world hegemon, with no competition and unchallenged. The irony is America is the only hegemonic power that never sought hegemony, unlike, for example, Napoleonic France. Americans are not intrinsically imperial, but we ended up dominant by default: Europe disappeared after the Second World War, the Soviet Union disappeared in 1991, so here we are. Of course Europeans like to see the hegemon diminished, and Obama is the perfect man to do that.
SPIEGEL: Maybe Europeans want to just see a different America, one they can admire again.
Krauthammer: Admire? Look at Obama's speech at the UN General Assembly: "No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation." Take the first half of that sentence: No nation can dominate another. There is no eight year old who would say that -- it's so absurd. And the second half? That is adolescent utopianism. Obama talks in platitudes, but offers a vision to the world of America diminished or constrained, and willing to share leadership in a way that no other presidency and no other great power would. Could you imagine if the Russians were hegemonic, or the Chinese, or the Germans -- that they would speak like this?
4 comments:
Charles Krauthammer bitter? Why would anyone think that?
His view of the world is grossly simplistic. He thinks it is our turn and too bad if others have a problem with that. We need to leverage our power - not see it diminished as we repel the world through arrogance and high handedness.
His rhetoric alone should alarm people throughout the free world. There are actually powerful Americans who think like that.
Bax,
And, some of us not-so-powerful ones, too! The French are probably the leading proponents of the Obama mindset, and they have gotten their butts kicked on a regular basis. If it weren't for the Brits and us, they would be under totalitarian rule.
Why can't we all just get along? We can, so long as the bad guys know there are consequences that await bad behavior. I think preemptive wars are almost certainly wrong, but believing that all people are intrinsically good and that they can be reasoned into good behavior is beyond naive, it is foolish.
All the best,
Hags
Hags
Foolish yes but the real problem is the Left is so arrogant that they cannot even learn from history. They just want to merrily go down the exact same path that has ended every other powers time at the head of the food chain.
Welcome to the Rise and Fall of the United States.
Mark -
Your comments are incredibly ironic. Who has done more to harm our place in the world than GWB? Who ran up all the debt? Who couldn't work with the UN? Who angered historic allies?
Obama has a great deal to repair. Onward!
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