Sorry GOP, Americans Support President Obama’s Calm Response to Ukraine Crisis

Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and the talking heads over at FOX News may think the president is weak, but the American people disagree. GOP politicians have been sabre-rattling and accusing the president of presiding over a feckless foreign policy. However, if they were hoping to score political points with the American public, they are failing miserably in their efforts. A newly released CNN/ORC International survey finds a 48-43 percent plurality of Americans in favor of Barack Obama’s handling of the Ukraine crisis. While the president’s overall approval numbers are still underwater, the American people are supportive of his measured approach to dealing with the situation in Ukraine.

While Lindsey Graham and John McCain would like to see a more aggressive U.S. response, the American people are much more sober in their thoughts. Graham and McCain have never met a war they did not like. However, despite all the chest thumping and beating of the war drums, they have not made their case to the American people. The U.S. public is not receptive to the idea of an American military response in Ukraine. Only 12 percent of Americans polled favor sending U.S. ground troops to the conflict. Just 17 percent would support American air strikes. Even military aid to Ukraine was unpopular, mustering support from a mere 23 percent of those surveyed.

Republicans attempting to make a political issue of the Ukraine crisis should realize that their pleas for aggression are falling on deaf ears. The American people are war weary. Having been hoodwinked into waging a war in Iraq, the public is not particularly interested in engaging in another overseas conflict. Americans prefer diplomacy and economic sanctions to launching a military attack. While many Republican politicians and pundits are trying to paint Barack Obama as a weak political leader in the face of an international crisis, the American people know better. The weak leadership is within the Republican Party where creative responses to international events are all but impossible.

The party that brought us George W. Bush and Dick Cheney still believes the proper way to handle a foreign crisis is to send troops and drop bombs. The American people disagree. They support diplomacy. So does the president. Since President Obama has kept a cool head under pressure, he has the support of the American people.

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Keith Brekhus

Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick's successful re-election bid in Arizona's 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.

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