Is America safer and more powerful than it was four or five years ago?

[bedstuy]

We're stronger by virtue of not being bogged down in Iraq, recovered from the recession and having eliminated a large percentage of the Al Qaeda leadership.

embarked upon foreign policy ventures that have lead to mass killings of innocent people, which will create more terrorists committed to killing Americans.

People like to say that, but where is the evidence?  Al Qaeda is an Islamist organization, not one simply committed to avenging the wrongs of US imperialism in the Middle East and Central Asia.  If killing civilians = terrorism, the US should have seen 100 times more terrorist attacks by Koreans and Vietnamese than Saudi Arabians.  I think there is some resentment of US military actions that can lead to terrorism, sure.  But, it certainly isn't as neat as you would have it.   

He has heightened tensions with Russia and threatened to provoke a second Cold War. He has made a 'pivot to Asia' and antagonized China. We are far, far, far less safe now than we were in 2009.

What has Obama actually done to heighten tensions with either country?  It seems like there is a rising tide of Nationalism and irredentism in Russia that can hardly be attributed to the President.  And, we're not about to use military force in either country, so how are we actually threatened?

[bedstuy]

recovered from the recession

?!

We're more secure by many measures, so there's really no reason to make things up.

We have recovered from the recession since 2009. 

[bedstuy]

Yes, I'm sure that we're all aware that by the Haav'd economists' measures, the "Great Recession" ended in June 2009.  Seriously, though, do you find it necessary to point that out in this thread.  First, since polling data inspired the thread, consider that about 2/3 of the public doesn't feel that the recession is over.  Second, consider that restaurants report about a 13% lower per-capita rate in sales for fourth-quarter 2013 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.  Third, consider the fact that the average house price in 2013 is about the same as it was in 2009, and actually about 1% lower than it was in 2008.  Most importantly, consider the fact that the national unemployment rate is about seven percent, which is about the same as it was exactly five years ago, and higher than it was in 2008. 

Sure, my stocks have rebounded.  I'm up from where I was five years ago, and the DJIA closed today just over 16 thousand, which is considerably higher than its close five years ago.  That's a leading indicator, no doubt, and it suggests that things are moving back to making films about Gay Robots finding a brain, while Poland and the rest of the world gets invaded.  Still:  Have you lost a job?  Been kicked out of your house?  Had to stand in a bread line?  No?  Neither have I, but let's not be insensitive to those who have, and who still do.  Just now, we are about six years into a ten-year recession.  I don't disagree that we are "more secure and more powerful" than we were five years ago as a nation--I still say that over the long term we are a crumbling empire and that this whole thread is an exercise in mental masturbation, but I was up front in my recognition that if you only look at five years and only look at security measures, we're up from five years ago--but don't tell me that we're back in black.  We are not.  Our unemployment rate is high, our national debt continues to rise, and our morale is low.  Those are not the hallmarks of long term sustainability. 

That's true to an extent.  Our economy is certainly in a better place today and that was my only point.  The truly wrong idea is that Obama's national defense and foreign policy decisions are to blame.  This whole idea of foreign policy strength on the Republican side is basically a substance-free canard used for attack lines.  True strength isn't using our military power as much as we can.  True strength is enjoying the benefits of peace without compromising basic principles of international comity.

On the long-range trajectory point, I've never been one for jeremiads.  Regardless of the predictions of doom and gloom, we can do better if we make smart decisions so it's no use being fatalistic.  Fatalism is a self-destructive impulse.

[bedstuy]

In terms of soft power, I'd also say that the United States is a bit weaker. Under Bush, there was no question where the US stood on the world stage. America had a clear raison d'être, and I think that clarity helped put a stopper on "international chaos." Would Putin have advanced into Crimea under the watch of an American president who's not a flake? Would the Arab spring have turned out so poorly? The US certainly wouldn't be pandering to Iran...

So I guess I'd put it like this (and it will sound so hackish, forgive me ): Where America is safer, it's largely thanks to Bush. Where we're weaker, it's largely thanks to Obama (but I'll give Bush a lot of credit for US debt).

Good grief.  Putin invaded Georgia during the Bush administration and Bush emboldened Putin by his whole,"I looked into his eyes" comment.  On the Arab spring point, what's the alternative policy?  The US doesn't have a role to play in the internal politics of every Arab country all of the time.  Sometimes there's going to be turmoil and there's nothing we can do about it. 

Did you forget that Bush invaded Iraq and completely botched it?  Bush was a horrible commander-in-chief, one of the worst in history certainly.