That long-running leftist delusion about how “We will make the world love us again” sure got old fast, didn’t it? (Never mind that outside of the jet-setting cliques of babbling salon intellectuals, our reputation around the world has always been pretty good – unlike the salon intellectuals, your humble correspondent actually gets out on the ground and meets real people with real ideas. But I digress.)

I don’t know how much you can trust polling inside Russia, but even so… consider this:

What is most surprising to me is that Russians’ attitudes toward the United States have actually worsened during Obama’s first year in office compared with what they were during the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush…

(Emphasis mine.)

After not even a year of this vanity-fueled ineptitude on the international stage, we are weaker at home and less-respected around the world.