As a little girl, I was always reminded by my mother that gum chewing was in poor taste. She would recite this little ditty and it has stuck with me ever since. It seems so apropos when watching the spectacle of our President-of-Poor-Manners as he gallivants the globe and chews gum at formal events.

The gum-chewing girl

and the cud-chewing cow.

What is the difference

I will allow.

The intelligent look on the face of the cow.

Obama should make every American with a modicum of decency feel ashamed and sickened as he continues his coarse and boorish behavior. We used to be known as the Ugly American, a term used to refer to perceptions of arrogant behavior by Americans abroad, but Barack Hussein Obama truly epitomizes such genuine arrogance.

In 2006 Jayne Clark wrote the following for USA Today/Travel/Destinations

. . . research aimed at discovering the roots of anti-American sentiments around the world points, in part, to the American personality. People overseas don't just dislike our foreign policy; they dislike us. And that's unsettling to U.S. businesses with interests abroad, as well as to the U.S. tourism industry vying for a share of incoming foreign travelers.

Historically, people would separate the American government and the American people. But that distinction is being blurred. Typically, [Americans] were admired for our way of life. It was a lifestyle that many aspired to, and that's not the case any more.

In fact, that lifestyle and the liberty that America offers is still envied. 

If it were not, people would be flocking to Saudi Arabia of the cruel-and-usual-punishment world, instead of America where we still have the Bill of Rights, bruised though they may be.

But according to the non-profit Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA), Americans are being asked to become "World Citizens" and "speak lower and slower."

It appears that Obama follows the first half of "speak softly" but neglects the "carry a big stick" approach in international affairs as he continues to whittle away at American power and clout. Teddy Roosevelt linked those words in an "address to the Monroe Doctrine, the longstanding U.S. policy against interference of European countries in the affairs of countries in the Western Hemisphere." Roosevelt said: “There is a homely adage which runs ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick -- you will go far.’ If the American nation will speak softly, and yet keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.’”

Since Roosevelt’s presidency, the term “big stick policy” has been employed as a common political term, especially in reference to U.S. foreign policy. It is generally used to refer to policy positions that will be backed up with military force if necessary.

But the 44th President continues to deliberately erode American military might.  He has purged experienced combat generals and admirals from the military; reduced salary increases for  troops; issued pink slips for servicemen and women; and cancelled worthy weapons systems such as the F-22, making us less able to compete with China's emerging ballistic and cruise missile systems. 

In fact, according to Richard Cleary and Thomas Donnelly, the "$489 billion cut to defense budgets engineered by Barack Obama [in 2013] won't just mean less American military power. These cuts have significant consequences for America's allies as well."  Consequently, without the "political commitment in the United States, allies find themselves in a precarious position." In reality, "the fate of the F-35 program is as good an indicator of the depth and breadth of Barack Obama's retreat from U.S. military preeminence. If more international partners on the project start bailing [from] . . . their F-35 plans, the pace of American and allied decline, will accelerate."

Moreover, Obama continues to return sworn enemies -- dare we say the unmentionable terminology -- the Islamic jihadists to their various bases of operations where they continue to hatch schemes to murder Americans and others around the world.

Also, Obama has reduced the American space program which always offered important opportunities for research, and innovation.  As a result, according to Dr. Robert Zubrin's article of February 2012,

what is truly remarkable about the Obama administration’s NASA management is that it has managed to wreck both the human-spaceflight program and the robotic planetary-exploration effort without saving any money.

Furthermore, "[t]oday the shuttles are gone, the moon program is gone, and this decade’s Mars and Jupiter probes are gone -- all without saving a nickel. In terms of damage done per dollar cut, it may be a world record."

Moreover, why is government-run-single-payer-fixated Obama not amenable to permitting veterans a voucher system for their medical needs?  Again, this controlling president refuses an array of choices for people to decide what is best for them and their families.

Ergo, Americans find themselves in a weakened position. Military morale is low and the middle class scrambles to keep up with the ever expanding executive decisions that curtail economic and political freedoms.

So while Rome -- I mean Iraq, Afghanistan, France, Nigeria and Yemen burn, our gum-chewing president keeps displaying the new America.

Ugly American, indeed!

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com