Can Obama be credited with recognizing the limits of American military power?

Yes, he can, and for that he ought to be congratulated. The warmongers of the Bush / Cheney administration (and for that matter, the other Bush, and Reagan as well) got us into this concept where American military power was seen as the answer to all foreign affairs problems.

Obviously it wasn’t.

But rest assured that those are the same people that will castigate Obama for weakening the military and making America less powerful.

The problem with the warmongers is that they don’t see that there is such a concept of SMART POWER.

We’ve been bombing more countries since Obama has President than ever before. It was around 7 last time I counted.
I also believe that the CIA is heavily involved in the “Arab Spring,” which is a clever name for the overthrow of governments.
The idea that Obama has been weak on terrorism is absurd to me. If anything, our expanding militarism helps create more terrorists. We still don’t understand why they really hate us.

He should not so much be recognized such limits.

Instead he should be considered regarding his desire to set them.

Obama claims to wish to reduce unemployment.

Military sector jobs are jobs too.

@SecondHandStoke – that’s a false argument. My job, and probably yours, are directly related to the economy and whether it’s doing well or doing poorly.

Military jobs are disconnected from the vicissitudes of the economy.

^ Odd.

My father and mother were military technology contractors.

Missile and drone telemetry and aircraft flight recorders clothed and fed me, paid for my education.

But I have no idea what I’m talking about.

I’ve read the comments above and taken note of the upvotes. It’s obvious that Fluther is not the place for an unbiased, logic based conversation about the US military.

Every single day we all enjoy the freedom and security that is assured by our still strong armed forces, yet I see words like “warmongers” and the suggestion that our military is a core factor in the United States’ “image problem.”

Fin.

No. But you can give him credit for knowing what you and I and everybody else who is paying attention knows. The US does not have the money to conduct sweeping military adventures around the world. The USA owes about 20 trillion dollars and makes about 17 trillion a year. As debt becomes a greater part of GDP you get…

Higher costs of living
Slower wage growth
Generational and economic class financial inequality
Fiscal crises
Inability to respond to fiscal crisis.

The military is expensive. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. Right now, you can’t afford it. The rest of the world knows this as well. Hence, the provocations here and there by the Russians, and Chinese (neither of whom can afford much either) and the Iranians (who may wind up owning all the oil in the Middle East if they are successful in using their surrogates. Talk about money.)