As the much of world eagerly awaits the results of the face-off between a pinkly-pectoraled Putin and our metrosexual commander in chief in this mother of all Mexican standoffs, there is much to ponder. While Putin’s ongoing media campaign to present him to the world as a real man, physically strong and constantly engaged in activities that are associated with masculinity, virility, strength and courage may appear as laughable to American supporters of Barack Obama, the truth is, it’s working, in the rest of the world, in Spades.

We here in America tend to forget that much of that world which lies outside our borders lacks our richly well-earned and deeply ingrained sense of skepticism and cynicism that comes with the blessing of living in an open, democratic society. There are countless countries around the globe where, through oppressive governmental media manipulation, opinions and political sentiments within the public sector are formed in such a way as to support those in control and those leaders of other countries whose views on governance reflect their own.

What it all boils down to is that while effete, liberal America scoffs at Vladimir Putin’s Marlboro Man campaign to present himself around the globe as a virile, vigorous and above all else, strong, world leader, the rest of the world, minus the sneering liberals, is buying it wholesale. If such a survey were possible, it would be ever so interesting to see the results of a world-wide opinion analysis matching Putin against Obama. Mind you, this is just a suspicion from an old veteran of seven decades but I’m betting our metrosexual prezzie would not fare well around the globe against that shamelessly shirtless Soviet man of the world. I’d settle for just a survey of world national leaders. I suspect that Obama would lose that by astounding numbers as well. Go ahead, ask the world who’s flaccid in policy and performance.

Osama bin Ladin nailed it with his strong horse, weak horse description of geopolitics. He may have been wrong about many things but that assessment is a universal truth. Those leaders who exude strength, both political and of deep belief and character, attract followers and political support. Unfortunately for America at the moment, Vladimir Putin, a man with a demonstrable record of accomplishment as a KGB colonel, has done that exceedingly well on the world stage so that Russia is perceived as strongly and decisively led.

Contrast Putin’s record with that of our affirmative action president and you quickly see why the United States is operating from such a position of weakness in this current confrontation over the Ukraine, and particularly the Crimea.  Unfortunately for America, those photo-shopped pics of a broad-chested Putin riding a huge brown, Russian bear, juxtaposed with those of a sissy-imaged Obama on his bicycle are devastating to this country in the arena of world public opinion. The Russians elevated a former KGB colonel with some expectation of what he might turn out to be as a national leader.

An informationally deficient American electorate elected, and then re-elected, a man with no provable record of accomplishment anywhere in his past. That is proving out to be on the world stage what was easily predictable: our metrosexual president, a man of wide and demonstrable lack of accomplishment, isn’t capable of playing on the same field as that bare-chested Russian Bear.