Did Obama Say US Dominance is in Decline?

Well, in the first place, it is. The US is bankrupt, isn't it, and China owns all our debt. Of course US dominance is in decline.

But Rush would have us believe that Obama doesn't intend the US to regain its former position, but what Obama really said was the other countries are going to keep us "on our toes."

Here is how the story from the Times of India begins: "Implicitly acknowledging the decline of American dominance..." Implicitly acknowledging, implicitly, that's not an accidental choice of words. Implicitly acknowledging. Not regretfully, not by happenstance, not, "Awe, shucks," but rather in a triumphant way Obama's crowing about this. "Implicitly acknowledging the decline of American dominance, Barack Obama on Sunday said the US was no longer in a position to 'meet the rest of the world economically on our terms.'" This is by design, implicitly acknowledging. Not saying this is temporary, "Hey, this is just an accident of fate here, but we're gonna fix this," not that. This is not just happenstance. This is by design, implicitly acknowledging -- look it up -- implicitly acknowledging, with fanfare, triumphantly, finally the decline of American dominance has been made a reality, and I'm the guy who did it, and I'm happy to be telling you about it here in India. That's what implicitly acknowledging means.

"Speaking at a town hall meeting in Mumbai, he said, 'I do think that one of the challenges that we are going face in the US, at a time when we are still recovering from the financial crisis is, how do we respond to some of the challenges of globalisation? The fact of the matter is that for most of my lifetime and I'll turn 50 next year - the US was such an enormously dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the US remains the largest economy and the largest market, but there is real competition. This will keep America on its toes. America is going to have to compete. There is going to be a tug-of-war within the US between those who see globalisation as a threat and those who accept we live in a open integrated world, which has challenges and opportunities.'"

Rush of course reinterprets it the same old way, saying that what Obama is really saying is that "we stole the world's resources, now its payback time."

And that's not what Obama said at all. What he said was, "There's real competition."

What Obama also emphasized was the globalization of the world.

America is going to have to compete. There is going to be a tug-of-war within the US between those who see globalisation as a threat and those who accept we live in a open integrated world, which has challenges and opportunities.'"

That's what I found frightening. Obama seems to definitely be saying that he's aiming to have US sovereignty ended. That's got to be stopped!