Yesterday President Obama once again used the U.S. military as a backdrop to burnish his national security credentials, this time rolling out a campaign speech praising his own achievements at the graduation of the Air Force Academy. The President said "around the world, the United States is leading once more. From Europe to Asia, our alliances are stronger than ever." National Security Advisor Tom Donnelly briefed the press in advance of last week's G-8 and NATO summits that President Obama has "reinvigorated and revitalized our alliances."
One problem with this approach is that the data just doesn't back him up. My favorite example is Egypt, at 82 million people the Middle East's largest country, bellweather of the Arab Spring, the place President Obama went to deliver an "historic" speech about repairing America's relations with the so-called Muslim world. Egyptians went to the polls today to freely choose their President for the first time ever...and they did so with no encouragement or praise from the Free World's leader. Hilariously, while President Obama is too busy touting his own foreign policy prowess to pay attention to the Egyptian elections, even amidst their historic transition, Egyptians have time to inform themselves about our President election: according to the Pew Poll on International Public Attitudes, 71% of Egyptians report they would vote for the Republican nominee instead of Barack Obama. President Obama may be able to be reelected in the United States, but he couldn't get elected in Egypt.
