Obama Recognizes the Charge of Empire

President Obama gave a speech before the U.N. in which he said “The notion of American empire may be useful propaganda, but it isn’t borne out by America’s current policy or public opinion.”

What fascinates me is that he even recognized the charge in a major speech. Whom has he been reading? And whom have his speechwriters been reading? Who has been making this charge such that he felt he had to rebut it? Is this empire criticism striking a nerve? Is that why he included a rebuttal in the scarce real estate of his address? Have White House pollsters picked up an undercurrent among ordinary Americans that clusters on the term “empire” and views it negatively? Has Obama felt that his hands are being tied in Syria and elsewhere so that he must scotch this idea? Did he see that Empire contradicts his rhetoric of “exceptionalism”?

To whom is the notion of American empire “useful” as propaganda? Are there some Republicans who pose Obama a political threat that he is referring to? Are his remarks directed at Ron Paul or Rand Paul?

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