Obama: We (I) have restored America’s Standing in the world
Beijing, China (CNN) — A little more than a year after his election, President Obama said his administration has laid the groundwork for success on global and domestic matters.
“I think that we’ve restored America’s standing in the world, and that’s confirmed by polls,” he told CNN’s Ed Henry in a wide-ranging interview this week during his trip to China.
“I think a recent one indicated that around the world, before my election, less than half the people — maybe less than 40 percent of the people — thought that you could count on America to do to the right thing. Now it’s up to 75 percent.”
The president said that makes it easier for world leaders to cooperate with the United States, noting Chinese and Russia involvement in nuclear talks with Iran.
Obama has visited 20 countries during his first year in office, more than any other U.S. president.
A decision on troops levels in Afghanistan is “very close,” the president said. “I will announce that decision certainly in the next several weeks.”
Obama has been holding regular meetings with his war council to develop options for sending more troops to Afghanistan. Last week, the president told the group — comprising top Cabinet, Pentagon and administration officials — that the U.S. troop commitment to Afghanistan is not open-ended and then asked for revisions to options he previously received, a senior administration official said at the time.
The war council is considering a request by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan for up to 40,000 more troops.
“We have a vital interest in making sure that Afghanistan is sufficiently stable, that it can’t infect the entire region with violent extremism,” Obama said. “We also have to make sure that we’ve got an effective partner in Afghanistan. And that’s something that we are examining very closely and presenting some very clear benchmarks for the Afghan government.”
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Face Forward Comments:
I guess he thinks the world apology tour has helped. For all of you Obama supporters, please name me one significant global or domestic policy that has helped the US. I challenge you to go back to his days in congress and find anything. Find it, send it to me, and I will publish it. BTW Anyone know which poll he was using?
