Do you agree with President Obama that "we are the indispensable nation"?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

?itok=MaOyD5zG


President Obama on Sunday evening said the United States “underestimated” the capability ISIS possessed to grow in Syria during the chaos of that nation’s bloody civil war.

In the CBS interview, the president, though admitting that his administration “overestimated” the Iraqi military’s capability to deal with the threat of ISIS inside its own borders, said ”America leads … we are the indispensable nation; when trouble comes up anywhere in the world, they don’t call Beijing, they don’t call Moscow, they call us.”


http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/obama-america-underestimated-isis-boehner-doubts-strategy

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	Yes
	1 (13%)
	No
	7 (88%)
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[Orsino]

1. What he said is generally true, but that doesn't make us "indispensable."

Our actions often cause or contribute to the problems we are called on to solve.

[yeoman6987]

2. I am the lone yes so far

The President is 100 percent correct. When there is a weather tragedy in a poor country. Who do the call for help? The United States. When there is an Ebola breakout, who goes to help? The United States. Heck when we stayed out of Thailand during the emergency years ago when the Earthquake caused ripples of waves to crash on their coasts and caused massive flooding. Who did they say took to long to help? The United States. We are called upon for every issue going on in the World first. Is it fair? No. But that is the way it is. If we stop being helpful. The results will not be pretty for the rest of the World.

[H2O Man]

3. "Other"

In the context that President Obama spoke of -- as far as providing aid in times of natural tragic events -- this country has generally taken a strong leadership role.

In the context of military operations, the US performance has been a mixed bag. Obviously, the US was the "leader" in the unnatural tragic invasion of Iraq in 2003, though that wasn't what Obama wanted to address.

I know that there are many bad things about this country. But I am also very aware of the good it does. It's a shame that we don't come close to reaching our full potential for good.

[KittyWampus]

4. No one country is singularly indispensable. Acting as such weakens neighbors who never have to do

the heavy lifting. And it probably also inflates our own assessment of our capabilities.

I am not voting though, because of the context of the OP question.

[madokie]

6. Same reason I didn't vote

[madokie]

5. We are the country that the world looks up to for leadership

after all we are the melting pot of all these different immigrants. In other words in our blood flows the blood of every other nationality in the world. It is us who leads the way and I'm proud of that fact.

[cali]

7. I don't think in those terms. Whether we are or are not, what's the point?

Why bother? We're not going to disappear overnight. The reality is that the U.S. is a major factor in world affairs, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. Obviously the world would be a very different place if the U.S. didn't wield as much power as it does.

Has the U.S. been a more of a force for good than for ill? That could be debated on several levels, but again, I think it's kind of pointless. It's unknowable.

[Zorra]

8. Underestimated? Horseshit. They knew exactly what was going down, and they've known

it for years.

[CJCRANE]

9. Who you gonna call?

[BeyondGeography]

10. Socially, I think we are aligned with the future in a way that no other country is

Ferguson is just the latest reminder that progress always has to be defended once earned. But when I read that protesters in Hong Kong put their hands in the air once the police started assaulting them, I was reminded of the power of this country and that the world always pays attention to what happens here, and most of it hopes for the best when it comes to our civil and individual rights, because we have led.

Economically...ugh.

But as a free place of refuge for so many over the years, America has been a blessing. Many people in the world would have been lost without it.

[dmosh42]

11. I think it to be a dangerous outlook for our citizens, but great for the egotists who...

want to play at world politics. Supposedly, the UN was set up to get a wide viewpoint, and fair decisions on how to handle world problems between nations. I don't feel it to be fair to have the lower 30% of our citizens be ready to shed their blood to keep the well-to-do happy, and let some a-holes call themselves "world leaders".

[Iggo]

12. Of course not.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Such nationalistic hubris precedes the fall of empires.

[bemildred]

14. I find the whiney self-pity in that statement very troubling, to be honest.

”America leads … we are the indispensable nation; when trouble comes up anywhere in the world, they don’t call Beijing, they don’t call Moscow, they call us.”

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. " Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. "

Reminds me of "The Sopranos" when Tony was shot and in the hospital and Silvio was in charge and his asthma was flaring up from all the pressure.

[jwirr]

15. We make ourselves indispensable. All of our interference in other countries both by the US

government (esp. CIA) and corporations upsets the balance in these countries and then we tell them that we are indispensable when it comes time to fix it. Our idea of fixing is to blow the hell out of the country and them put our crony government in place. We need to wake up NOW.

[NightWatcher]

16. Team America World Police, Fuck Yeah!!!