Obama Hates the United States?

Submitted by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi (United Kingdom), Nov 27, 2011 at 18:37

Dr. Pipes,

I am afraid I must take issue with this statement:

'as a Leftist he despises the United States and sees it as a force for ill in the world'.

I see no evidence that Obama hates his own country and sees its influence as malign. One can criticise his performance without casting him in a sinister light as Tacitus tried to do for Tiberius in the Annals. Whatever radical politics he might have espoused in his younger years, it's safe to say that he has discarded such folly and sincerely wants to forward American interests, even if many of his policies are naive and misguided.

Also, rather than seeing Obama as a Leftist, I think it's more accurate to say he's a moderate social democrat. After all, it's not as though he is aiming for a centralised command economy.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".