Reply #28: He's the President of a global empire.

[Radical Activist]

There's no question about that. He's also someone who believes in creating change through organizing rather than waiting for a violent, revolutionary overthrow of the government.

So the question is, will he take action to expend the empire, dismantle it, or simply change some of its policies? The most optimistic expectation is that Obama will set the US on a gradual course away from military domination of the world. A few policies, like nuclear disarmament, suggest he wants to begin shrinking the empire. More actions, like his disappointing Latin American policy, suggest he's maintaining the empire while curbing its most brutal mistakes. That's definitely an improvement, but not sustainable in the long term.

My worry about Clinton as SOS was that she might influence the administration to continue Clinton-era Latin America policies. I don't know if that's part of the reason for his actions, but Obama is ultimately the one responsible.