Obama ain't No 800-pound gorilla

Opinion
Barry Artiste. Now Public Contributor
With a presidential election coming up, Obama certainly doesn’t come across as a 800 pound Gorilla, McCain could be, but that is yet to be seen.
The US for all it’s detractors, need to realize one thing, when push comes to shove the US will be there, as many countries in the midst of turmoil when the proverbial “Excrement Hits the Fan” the US as the World’s Calvary will come to assist when requested.
Granted US interests are far and wide in the world. Many state US greed, to that I say, US balances World Stability. Many Liberals state the US as Evil, clearly are wearing Blinders over their right eye to other World Powers who are far more Evil behind the scenes, yet for some “Magically Fairy Dust Logic” are clearly rarely mentioned by those who feel the US is an easy target.
The US have “Saved more Bacon, than it Fries” on the Diplomatic Front, but there are times when Diplomacy fails, to “Cage the Doves, and Release the Hawks”. Cause the “World Huntin is Good” especially for those other Evil World Powers who enjoy your constant media diatribes against the USA, which is a pleasant distract from those other Evil World Powers whose Talons continue to “Prey on Both Wings, Left and Right!”
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=677723
Why we need the 800-pound gorilla
Robert Kagan, National Post Published: Friday, July 25, 2008
(Photo inset) A U. S. soldier throws an incendiary grenade during a patrol in Baghdad on Nov. 13, 2007.
Global public opinion polls suggest a strong international desire for a diminished American role, a move toward greater multipolarity and equality in the international system. In the United States itself, there are calls for humility, for a tempering of ambitions and a greater sense of limits.
But whether American power and expansiveness will continue to be the most pressing problem in the years to come, or whether it is the most pressing problem even today, is increasingly debatable. In a world heading toward a more perfect liberal order, an old-fashioned superpower with a sense of global mission might seem a relic of the past and an obstacle to progress. But in a world poised precariously at the edge of a new time of turmoil, might not even a flawed democratic superpower have an important, even indispensable, role to play?
As it happens, American predominance is unlikely to fade anytime soon, largely because much of the world does not really want it to. Despite the opinion polls, America's relations with both old and new allies have actually strengthened in recent years.
China and Russia have been working together to balance against the United States. But there are obstacles to a lasting strategic alliance between the two powers. They have entered into an arms alliance, if not a formal strategic alliance, with Russia selling billions of dollars' worth of advanced military technology and weaponry to the Chinese for use against the United States in any conflict that may arise. They have strengthened the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an increasingly military as well as political institution. Yet they also remain traditional rivals. Russians continue to fear that the massive and productive Chinese population will quietly overrun Russia's sparsely populated Siberian and far eastern territory. China's manufacturing economy, meanwhile, is more dependent on the American market than is the oil-exporting Russia.
Another problem for China and Russia is that the world's other great powers -- the democratic powers of Europe, Japan, and India--are drawing closer to the United States geopolitically. The most striking change has occurred in India, a former ally of Moscow that today sees good relations with the United States as essential to achieving its broader strategic and economic goals.