America's once-exalted position as the unquestioned leader of the free world has been greatly and deliberately eroded.  A nation respected not only for its military and economic might, but more so for its dedication to the ideals of individual freedom and liberty is rudderless and adrift on a sea of uncertainty.  As a result, the United States and the rest of the world are facing the most precarious and potentially dangerous period since the 1930s.

Barack Obama and his regime have accomplished much of what they set out to do -- namely, the transformation of American society and an end to the pre-eminent status of the United States.  They have had a singleness of purpose and allegiance first and foremost to a confused and muddled ideology and not country.

When the leadership of a great nation exhibits this trait, the consequences can be catastrophic.  The product of a lifetime of leftist indoctrination, Barack Obama has, as the basic foundation of his disorganized and uncertain belief system, a conviction that the United States has been the epitome of oppression and arrogance throughout its history. 

Beyond that one tenet, Obama wavers between acceptance of crony capitalism and European-style socialism rather than rigid socialist/Marxist theory.  This may be anathema to the hardcore left whence he came, but nonetheless it reflects a firm rejection of the principles of individual liberty and freedom as outlined by the nation's founders.

In short, Barack Obama is a leader without a core.  Thus, he is able to rationalize the need to say or do anything as long as the end justifies the means.  He therefore cannot be nor is he trusted by other leaders on the world stage, as he is devoid of character and integrity.

Coupled with his nonexistent executive experience and lack of accountability over his lifetime, he has placed the United States in a most precarious position in world affairs.  In a young century that has already been beset with economic turmoil, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, unprecedented terrorist activity, and a rapidly changing world order thanks to enormous advances in communication and information, the American people could not have chosen a worse leader. 

Barack Obama began his presidency by donning the hair shirt and groveling before the nations of world, begging forgiveness for what he perceived to be the sins of America's past.  He did not care to understand that while allies may have mildly complained about past U.S. policy, it was out of a combination of envy and grudging respect.  Yet it is America's enemies and their loud and false protestations that frame the basis of Obama's outreach and appeasement mindset.  In reality, the world since the 1950s has looked to the United States for leadership and stability, not faux humility and self-flagellation.

This servile mindset by Barack Obama has projected an image of weakness which begets chaos, and chaos is what the international scene has become, be it in the Middle East, Asia, Russia, or Latin America.

In Afghanistan, by announcing a premature withdrawal date Obama has unleashed the Taliban and given them a green light to again subjugate the country.  He has further exacerbated the situation by his innumerable apologies for the inadvertent burning of Korans defiled by Muslim prisoners.  This has reinforced the image of not only a leader, but a nation of cowards in the minds of those who understand only strength and an indomitable will.  The United States now has no option but to abandon its efforts in Afghanistan, as Obama did prematurely in Iraq, thus leaving both nations vulnerable to civil war and an Islamist takeover.

Barack Obama, determined to become the Muslim world's best friend, has instead unleashed the dogs of war in the Middle East.  He has essentially told Iran that they are free to develop nuclear weapons and to meddle in the affairs of Lebanon, Syria, and whatever other country they choose.  He has given tacit support to Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in their confrontation with Israel, as U.S. policy is to browbeat and intimidate the Israelis into accepting any agreement with them, all the while insisting on Israel's acquiescence to Iranian nuclear capability.   

In his Cairo speech in 2009, Obama shamelessly blamed the West for all the current and historical conflicts with Islam and never once used the words "terrorism," "terrorist," or "war on terror."  Earlier in the same year he met secretly with the Muslim Brotherhood, the progenitor of Hamas and al-Qaeda, thus legitimizing them with a wink and a nod.

Once the riots began in Egypt and other North African countries, regardless of what may have triggered them, the Islamists knew they had nothing to fear from the United States, as the American president and his administration had made no meaningful overtures to the true democratic movements in those countries.  Obama chose instead to appeal to the radical elements, believing that by the sheer force of his personality and persuasion the Islamists would see the error of their ways. 

While playing this game with Washington, the radicals knew that if they could get the population into the streets, they could maneuver the situation to their advantage.  Today in Egypt, what began as student and middle-class demonstrations in the spring of 2011 has evolved into a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamist groups.  The same is now true in Libya and Tunisia and soon will be in Yemen, among others.

In an eerie replay of history, the Middle East has become the Balkans of 1912-14, wherein any inadvertent action or misunderstanding will trigger not only a regional, but also a global conflict.  Whereas the spark that initiated World War I was due to the egocentric and nationalist ambitions of many European countries, the underlying factor of any major war in the Middle East will be the abandonment of American resolve and the erosion of its economic and military power.

Beyond the Middle East, Russia and China are more emboldened than ever, openly mocking the United States and its leadership.  China has begun acting as if it were already the pre-eminent power in the Pacific basin, which is not surprising, considering the deference shown by President Obama to the Chinese leadership while begging them to continue buying American debt created by the incomprehensible fiscal policies of his administration.  The other nations of the region are modifying their policies to deal with the reality of a vacuum created by American uncertainty.

Russia has succeeded in intimidating the United States into abandoning a crucial missile defense system and allowing Russia a free hand to effectively reconstitute the old Soviet Union while browbeating its neighbors in Europe.  Hugo Chávez and his fellow travelers in South and Latin America have been given a tacit green light to continue their socialist rampage throughout the continent with no fear of any consequences from their neighbor to the north.

With his self-serving allegiance to those who worship the false god of environmentalism, Barack Obama has further aggravated the nation's precarious economic and security circumstances by refusing to develop the energy resources of the United States.  Instead, the country is more reliant than ever on importing oil from those regions he has helped to destabilize.  

American fiscal and monetary policy continues to wreak havoc in the global economy through historically overwhelming spending levels and the subsequent necessity of printing vast sums of money.  As a result, there is now an open discussion of replacing the dollar as the global exchange currency.  The United States, as the largest economy in the world, has a unique responsibility in the stability of the global economy.  Instead, President Obama has myopically chosen to spread chaos as he promotes his profligate domestic spending programs which by necessity will cause the United States to greatly reduce its military budget and force a once-proud nation to go hat-in-hand to other countries, seeking financial assistance.

Today American foreign and domestic policy is adrift on a sea of uncertainty, as there is a dishonest occupant of the White House who has no coherence in his personal beliefs and convictions except that American exceptionalism is a myth and that the nation must be transformed into another failed Euro-socialist state.  He has succeeded in making the world a much more dangerous place while dramatically eroding America's position of pre-eminence.