Tuesday, July 6, 2010

In the spirited discussion of late about whether President Obama’s escalating war in Afghanistan is an unwinnable quagmire no matter which counterinsurgency general is in charge, one aspect has been curiously overlooked.

A superpower like America doesn’t have friends, just interests.

Even a typically tight ally is somewhat miffed about the Obama administration bullying “British” Petroleum over that Gulf oil spurt, but otherwise, our standing in the world has certainly rebounded from the doldrums of the previous administration.

Did you see the data from Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project?

America is more popular with more people than at any point in history.

Sixty percent of those surveyed in 22 countries viewed the U.S. favorably.

That’s a 20-percent jump since the George W. Bush administration in 2007.

That cool, detached guy who has come under fire at home for not being decisive enough or tough enough, almost two-thirds have confidence in our leader to do the right thing.

Three years back that number sat at 21 percent.

In a majority of countries polled, most people supported Obama’s handling of the global meltdown.

Yet just 46 percent of Americans do.

Obama’s critics will probably point to our improved standing with two adversaries to prove his weakness and temerity, and not the benefits of a conciliatory tone.

China’s U.S. approval rating is 58 percent – highest since Pew started polling there.
In Russia, 57 percent view the U.S. favorably.

We might expect that America’s image is favorable in Britain (65 percent), Poland (74 percent) and Kenya (94 percent), but it’s reported to be the first time the four most populous nations besides ourselves – China, India, Indonesia and Brazil – feel positively about this nation.

Yet 60 percent of our own people cling to the belief we’re loathed overseas.

So far, however, the dearth of celebrations breaking out can be attributed to a couple of things.

Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize early on partly because he wasn’t the bellicose Bush administration, which spent that post-9/11 outpouring dubiously proving it was better to be feared than admired.

Higher approval ratings aren’t likely to win us more help in Afghanistan from Europeans.

Certainly some of this surge of positive approval ratings is suspicious because it is likely veiled enjoyment at Superman stumbling, weakened by economic kryptonite and scuffling to restore once mighty powers.

We don’t believe America will ever sink to being a second-class world citizen, but the days of going it alone and imposing Washington’s will may be behind us.

And that could be a good thing.

Solving such prickly challenges as climate change, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and that suspect global financial system might be more achievable with public opinion on our side.