I think what we are seeing with Obama’s latest tour is the long-anticipated political reckoning concerning our gargantuan national debt and epic annual deficit spending. If Obama is going to bow, he should do it before the Chinese, who don’t want to hear any more sermonizing about their human-rights record, their coal-burning, or their protectionist mercantile economy — not when the present U.S. government is running a near $2 trillion annual deficit, with plans to pile on another $9 trillion in aggregate annual debt.
Getting to the first $10 trillion in national debt meant an erosion of our national autonomy, but nearly doubling that in just a few years under Obama has brought us the present spectacle. Bowing, apologizing, and granting concessions may be Obama’s preferred style, but it is increasingly a realistic reflection of the catastrophic position in which the United States over the last decade has put itself — by living far beyond its means, borrowing from those it lectures, and expecting energy to be produced abroad under any conditions while selfishly declaring its own resources off limits.