A thought, inspired by a conversation with one of my regular sources . . .

Through every presidency – Bush and Clinton and Bush and Reagan and even Carter – you knew there were national leaders in the world who didn’t like America. And they would, when given the opportunity, offer varying versions of “America stinks” to anyone who would listen.

And the American president’s job was, in these circumstances, to offer some version of, “Shut your trap. You are a brutal thug who has run decent people in a decent nation into the ground, who has no legitimate claim to power and who lies about our flaws to distract from your abysmal and inexcusable abuse of your own people, an outrage to every decent soul on this earth. We know we have flaws, but an irredeemable brute like you has no standing to criticize the United States of America.” Sure, Bill Clinton spent a lot of time apologizing overseas for the actions of his predecessors, but he could harness his scorn for Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic and the Haitian military when it pushed out Aristide.

The president had to do that, because as wonderful as our allies are, we could not expect others to defend our reputation when we were unwilling to do it ourselves.

As I said, a role played by presidents of both parties. And then Obama came along, saying at the United Nations:

I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. Part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others. This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for our collective inaction . . .
So for those who question the character and cause of my nation, I ask you to look at the concrete actions that we have taken in just nine months. On my first day in office, I prohibited – without exception or equivocation – the use of torture by the United States of America. I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed, and we are doing the hard work of forging a framework to combat extremism within the rule of law. Every nation must know: America will live its values, and we will lead by example.
. . . Future generations will look back and wonder why we refused to act – why we failed to pass on intact the environment that was our inheritance. That is why the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over.

We saw similar themes in Obama’s speech in Cairo, and in Obama’s cool patience while Daniel Ortega denounced America for 50 minutes at the Summit of the Americas or while enduring Putin’s “extended rants about Russia’s grievances.” The message is, again and again, “Our critics have some valid points, but it’s different now because I’m here.”

When someone questions the character and cause of my nation, I don’t want to hear my president saying “That was true then, but we’re all right now.” It’s been BS all along, even with presidents and policies I didn’t like.

We have reached the moment where defending our reputation must be done by others, because we’re not willing to do it ourselves.