Obama to world: Don't expect America to fix it all

Thursday 24th September, 06:40 AM JST

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grafton at 02:59 AM JST - 25th September

The Basic framework of what Obama has to say is sound, there does need to be a greater unification between countries taking action. America should not be doing the lion’s share. All that is true & cannot be disputed, but where he does lose the plot is when he does what so many less knowledgeable Americans do & says that the world shouldn’t always ask help of the US. This is a figment of the American cultural imagination. They believe that they are always being asked to go out & help save the world & then cannot understand why they then face resentment. The US government like any good government acts in self-interest, & that means they jump at any & all chances they see of gaining something to their own advantage by becoming involved.

Fine, in itself there is nothing wrong in operating such a policy, what is wrong is that when this policy backfires the American people have to be kept on board with the lie that other counties didn’t join in & support the US. Nobody asked the US to attack either Iraq or Afghanistan, these actions were taken by the US. Were they right or wrong to do so is not the issue, the only people asked about these attacks were the American people & even they needed to be lied to.

Again when we look at humanitarian aid, yes the US is an enormous donor, aid to disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis or whatever. The US is in there fast & effective. These actions cannot in themselves be faulted, but, & yes with the US there does always seem to be a “but”, just what is the motivation behind this aid? Like any of the other countries that are giving aid it is to get a foot in the door. The starving, the homeless, the sick don’t care & I don’t really care either so long as aid does get through to these people. But when the president of the US comes out all saint like about all that the US does for the world, then yes I do care.

Nobody here has hands clean enough to point the finger at the US, (not even Americans), but by the same token Obama is out of order in defending the US in terms he has done. He only takes responsibility for what he knows the American people will accept, that speech was for a home audience.
Icewind007 at 03:44 AM JST - 25th September

I suppose this is one of the few good things Obama has said. Stop blaming America for everything while reaping all the benefits. It's easy to sit back and point fingers.

By the way, every one is always criticizing America for getting too much into everything. This is the time for them to take control of issues themselves! America said so first.
diggerdog at 09:16 AM JST - 25th September

http://wais.stanford.edu/USA/us_supportforladictators8303.html

school of americas dictator list http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=840

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/SouthAmerica.html
armadello at 02:29 PM JST - 25th September

Obama is so right on this. Europeans have had more than their fair share of mucking up the world, more precisely that mess they created in the middle east after WWII. Throw in the French missteps in East asia, the whole Bosnia affair, the current chaos in former European controlled nations throughout Africa, Russia in Georgia, Asian countries like Japan, Korea, and China assaulting the US economy with their selfish export driven strategies, India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea... all nuclear powered powder kegs... easy to see the US is the least of this planets problems. And its about time the US president said so !
4thEstateDotCom at 03:19 PM JST - 25th September

Only Europe can save Europe. The prognosis don't look too good. Same for Russia and Great Britain.

America, as soon as we can get a sane majority of leaders up to Congress in 2010, should focus on countries committed to free markets and the values of Western civilization.
presto345 at 03:46 PM JST - 25th September

If Obama is saying the US under his superior leadership will take its fingers out of every pie and in return the world (whose world) won't expect it to 'fix things', we may begin to get somewhere.
rogerbentham at 03:50 PM JST - 25th September

a great American middle finger up the world's butt.
presto345 at 04:26 PM JST - 25th September

a great American middle finger up the world's butt.

You still don't get it . . . and probably never will. Not knowing where to put your fingers, or your fist, or your interests.
RomeoRamenII at 05:10 PM JST - 25th September

After more that 950 speeches since taking office, Obama finally says something I agree with.

Time for the Muslim boot-lick europeon nations to let their Islamic masters take care of them.
RomeoRamenII at 06:33 PM JST - 25th September

I've seen/heard enough of Obama's "International Cooperation": Apologizing for the greatness of America, alienating our allies, bowing to foreign kings and doing more to protect America's enemies than to protect Americans. Gotta wonder whose side he's on.
HonestDictator at 01:38 AM JST - 26th September

Diplomacy for as much "peace" as you can get is a hard pill to swallow. While it would be nice if the US could just solve the worlds problems on its own, we can't.
4thEstateDotCom at 07:56 PM JST - 26th September

Besides, Obama is too busy trying to destroy his country to worry about us helping you in whatever way save yours.
clodhopperOne at 05:55 PM JST - 28th September

I wonder why did America got itself in this mess anyways? For Oil supplies I guess? Good that it came from Obama but I think its too less and too late.

I feel India & US should counter the Threat of business China poses to the whole world today, otherwise it will be too late again if someone has to clean this mess......
alphawolf at 10:47 PM JST - 29th September

I'm sure glad he said this even though I wasnt' a supporter of him. He does say some good things now and then (nice speech writer). I doubt he will put much resistance on downsizing the US military presence in Japan/Okinawa with this mentality. His attitude is, "Please step up to the plate and take responisibility for your own regions.. enough of hegmony".

aw
Antonios_M at 01:21 AM JST - 1st October

As for iraq why did the US even invade it? Oil prehaps no of course not it just trying to save the world again, just forget how many iraq civilians have died. If the US wanted to save people maybe it could invade Zimbabwe and get rid of Mugabe. But then whats in Zimbabwe that the US wants? Lets not forget all the US installed leaders the US has put into power all over the world and dictatorships funded by the USA.

So true, diqqerdog.