President alienates allies

While the Obama administration continues its focus on growing the federal government, someone needs to keep an eye on the rest of the world.

Take a brief look at China and North Korea, for example.

These two longtime enemies have been anything but quiet of late.

First, the Chinese claimed a string of islands in the Japanese domain and declared its airspace off limits.

Then last week the Chinese held their own in a showdown with American ships in that disputed territory. A Chinese warship and an American vessel came frighteningly close to colliding in that political showdown.

And this week, with much fanfare, the Chinese landed a vehicle on the moon and announced plans to plant a Chinese flag on the moon's surface in a bold move that will surely have repercussions down the road.

Meanwhile in neighboring North Korea, the curtain was pulled back to internal dissension this past week when the supreme leader's uncle and second in command was stripped of his duties for what appeared to be minor violations. Apparently they were not so minor since the following day the uncle was executed.

And these developments happened in a two-week span.

Vice President Joe Biden originally was tapped for his position because of his foreign affairs experience. But Biden is the forgotten man in this administration and his reach does not span from the Middle East to the Far East.

Yet this administration continues to beat the drums of Obamacare, immigration reform, universal prekindergarten and "income equality."

The lack of public concern over the changes in the Far East poses a huge problem down the road.

This administration from the very beginning has decided to focus solely on domestic issues as you would expect from someone with a community-organizing background.

And as long as the rest of the world remains relatively quiet, you can adopt that stance.

But this president has managed to alienate many of our allies and is viewed as soft by many of our foes.

That is not a good combination.

As much as our national media would have us believe that this president is universally loved, the reality is far different.

Let's pray the day does not come when our great nation needs the assistance of our allies and they remind us of our broken promises (Israel) or our NSA spying (Germany and England).

If that time comes, we'll rue the day we put our national interests solely in a discussion on health care and paid little attention to the remainder of the world.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.