The risks of retreat under Obama

Michael Gerson:

Declining national influence is a choice, and America seems to be making it.

What foreign policy practitioners politely call the “churn” of events is beginning to look more like chaos. Egypt teeters between the establishment of a democracy and the restoration of the caliphate. Syria melts away as an organized state and perhaps as a geographic fact. Iran is on the verge of building the Shiite bomb and igniting a sectarian nuclear arms race (and you thought a purely ideological nuclear arms race was scary).North Korea continues its bold experiment in proliferation and abnormal psychology.

And beneath it all, some large trends: In the Middle East and North Africa, a combination of economic stagnation, a youth bulge and a sense of historical grievance — all the preconditions for radicalism and terrorism. In Asia, the rapid reversal of 250 years of Western economic and technological predominance, which is raising questions about America’s future military predominance.

Barring the option of utter despair, these challenges would seem to require expanded, sophisticated American engagement to shape an economic and security environment favorable to our long-term interests. Do any of these problems grow easier with time and inattention?

But consider the actual American response: budgetary chaos and military cuts, ideological self-questioning and mixed leadership signals.

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There is much more.

The sequestration's impact on the military is one issue, but it seems to fit withing a pattern of retreat by Obama that will one day have a high cost on our ability to influence events for the better.   If there is one upside, it is that the US is becoming more energy self sufficient which will also lead to a rebirth of our manufacturing base.  That will probably mean that Europe will be more at risk on energy because the leftist in those countries oppose fossil fuel development.