President Obama's World

Recently read an article in Time about President Obama's intelligent handling of foreign policy.
Good foreign policy Presidents are defined as having managed a complex set of challenges expertly, making few costly errors. Bad foreign policy Presidents are defined as having made mistakes that cost America in lives, treasure and prestige. Great foreign policy Presidents are defined as having created enduring structures and relationships that produced lasting peace and prosperity.
The article suggests that President Obama is a good foreign policy President with the opportunity to become a great one.
You can focus on the big stuff President Obama has accomplished like the crippling of al-Qaeda, the killing of Osama bin Laden, and our careful role in supporting the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya. But he has also repaired, re-established and established respectful diplomatic relations with many foreign governments.
I don't pretend to understand any of this and neither should you. Foreign policy is a confusing topic with so many different ideologies and leaders and interrelationships between countries that it is almost impossible to keep up. Unless you are Bill Maher or Rachel Maddow.
My point is that President Obama has been pretty successful at working with foreign countries in a world that is increasingly global, where everything is interrelated.
But you don' hear much about it. If W had killed Osama bin Laden there would have been parades and ceremonies and pickups with full sized American flags and empty Natty Lite beer cans driving onto the lawn of the White House. President Obama does it and the celebration is pretty muted. You know the reasons why and I'm not in the mood to rant about it today.
When asked why he has been successful in this arena President Obama said "That whole political circus that has come to dominate so much of Washington applies less to the foreign policy arena. There's not a lot of posturing and positioning and How's this going to play on cable news? and Can we score some points here?"
In other words, if republicans were not so focused on obstructing the President on domestic policy, his presidency could have been amazing.
Immediately following the article was a one page thingy on the economy and how it will affect the campaign. This contrast is what truly disturbed me.
The economy will be the biggest issue of this campaign because it directly affects peoples' lives. Unemployment, underemployment, financial suffering with no hope of relief are driving American citizens into panic mode. Romney's camp are betting that a fragile economy will defeat President Obama because he will be blamed for it.
The President has not handled it perfectly BUT a large part of his failure can be attributed to stubborn refusal by republicans to work with him along with the sheer enormity of the crisis he inherited from George W. Bush.
This is what is hugely wrong with our political system. We elected a President who is supremely gifted to be able to accomplish a lot in helping this country to survive. But he has been stymied by petty, unintelligent, blindly partisan republicans whose only mission is to defeat him. For reasons I am not in the mood to rant about today.
He has quietly proved his intelligence and diplomatic skills on the foreign front. Quietly because we Americans don't understand it. He could have accomplished as much domestically with intelligent, bi-partisan support.
If he is defeated this country will have squandered an immense opportunity.
And you will be working for $7.25/hour with no possibility of ever retiring and a home that declines in value every year.
While republican fat cats light Cohibas with hundred dollar bills.