DescentBB

For those that understand "Poe's Law" no further disclaimer is required. For those that don't.........I suggest you look it up.

Monday while President Barack Obama was answering questions at a town hall with YSEALI Fellows, an exchange program for community leaders from ASEAN, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he said his administration has restored the Untied States as the “the most respected country on earth.”

tunnelcat wrote:After Bush thoroughly abused our welcome around the world by starting 2 wars we're still essentially fighting, how would you fix our country's status now TB? I don't see any upcoming Republican candidate for president that won't make us even more reviled than we are now, especially Lindsey Graham. But if you compare our popularity right now to that during Bush's final term, Obama's statement might just have a smidgen of truth at the moment, relatively speaking.

woodchip wrote:

tunnelcat wrote:After Bush thoroughly abused our welcome around the world by starting 2 wars we're still essentially fighting, how would you fix our country's status now TB? I don't see any upcoming Republican candidate for president that won't make us even more reviled than we are now, especially Lindsey Graham. But if you compare our popularity right now to that during Bush's final term, Obama's statement might just have a smidgen of truth at the moment, relatively speaking.

But the nation’s popularity worldwide is now as low as when President Bush left office in 2009.

Guess again:

"Perceptions of the USA were in majority negative from 2005 until 2007 when negative views
of the country significantly outnumbered positive ones: a record high of 58 per cent of
respondents had unfavourable attitudes towards the USA. A durable recovery started in
2008, lasting over the course of Obama’s first term up until 2012 when positive views were
at a high (44%, up 19 points since 2007) and outnumbered negative ratings concurrently at
a low (38%). However, the reputation of the USA has receded in the past three years and
overall, over the decade, while negative views of the USA have softened and dropped five
points between 2005 (52%) and 2014 (47%), positive views have merely gone up two points
to 36 per cent in 2014. "

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/ ... g-poll.pdf

Will Robinson wrote:There is no "centrist" in world politics. So saying Obama is a centrist is jibberish.

Also how many 'likes' you get from other countries in any polling process is useless data.

When Russia or China concedes to our will on some treaty or in the face of us pursuing some strategic initiative then chalk up a positive. And when they don't, as has been the trend, then all the polling does nothing as consolation for our failure to prevail.

Will Robinson wrote:Considering the vast collection of opposing cultures and self serving motives in the mix, being a centrist in global politics is being nothing significant.

And what's with your equating the U.S. 'prevailing in treaties and strategy' with us 'ruling the world'?!?
It's like you are forever compelled to misrepresent comments so you can attack them.

callmeslick wrote:

Will Robinson wrote:Considering the vast collection of opposing cultures and self serving motives in the mix, being a centrist in global politics is being nothing significant.

as with local and national governance, isolating it to mere political theory is oversimplification. But, yes, you can hold a middle ground in terms of theory.

callmeslick wrote:

Will Robinson wrote:And what's with your equating the U.S. 'prevailing in treaties and strategy' with us 'ruling the world'?!?
It's like you are forever compelled to misrepresent comments so you can attack them.

'prevailing' implies superiority. That implied superiority of the US is both untrue, and unhelpful in the modern world.

Will Robinson wrote: With so many factions creating numerous unique positions the theory of defining the 'centrist' position is an exercise for math student. It is not suited to defining a nations political position in the boiling cauldron of all nations in the world if providing useful comparisons to other nations are the goal. It is conceivable to locate the center position. It isn't useful or relevant in this discussion.

'Prevailing' means we succeeded in establishing the treaty or implementing the strategy. You implied a result or motive that isn't inherent to either 'success' or 'implementation'. You did so to misrepresent the actual implication of my comment.

google wrote:pre·vail
prəˈvāl/
verb
* prove more powerful than opposing forces; be victorious.
"it is hard for logic to prevail over emotion"
synonyms: win, win out/through, triumph, be victorious, carry the day, come out on top, succeed, prove superior, conquer, overcome; More
* be widespread in a particular area at a particular time; be current.
"an atmosphere of crisis prevails"
synonyms: exist, be in existence, be present, be the case, occur, be prevalent, be current, be the order of the day, be customary, be common, be widespread, be in force/effect; More
* persuade (someone) to do something.
"she was prevailed upon to give an account of her work"
synonyms: persuade, induce, coax, convince, get, urge, pressure, coerce; informalsweet-talk, soft-soap
"they prevailed upon me to emcee their charity affair"