BosGuy rant

As the Crimean crisis has evolved it seems like some Republicans have been making rather odd comments. Last week The Daily Show pointed out how Bill O’Reilly, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin (among others) have been publicly praising Putin’s “strong leadership”.  These comments seem to coincide curiously with more conservatives deriding President Obama’s “weak leadership”.  Has the world is suddenly gone upside down? Conservatives are usually hyper-patriotic and more likely to demonize countries like Russia than admire them from afar; let alone publicly proclaiming America as a wimp.

I can appreciate disappointment in Presidential leadership (I’m still traumatized by eight years of George W. Bush) so I won’t judge these conservative critiques of Obama too harshly. However, it does seem odd to deride your own country’s leadership while simultaneously “admiring” Putin.

I will admit I’m no expert on foreign affairs or the Crimea, but I don’t understand why America should be considered the primary check to Putin’s ambitions.  Russia’s aggression is happening on Europe’s turf – if anyone should be playing tough it should be Europe. Russia’s economy is far more tied to Europe and European markets than America.  It is the 21^st Century and I’d like America to retire from policing the world and let the rest of the world community step forward and start to take more responsibility for policing itself.  If that is perceived as “weakness” then so be it. I’d prefer to focus on “strengthening” America.