I realize that the column you are about to read is out of sync with the basic trend of journalism today: It is basically optimistic about America, and particularly about how we have responded governmentally to the challenges we face.

That is especially the case when we measure by the standard set forth by a man I considered to have been a great 20th-century philosopher: Henny Youngman. While he was known as “king of the one-liners,” the wisdom by which I have been guided for much of my career came in two lines. To the self-posed question “How’s your wife?” Youngman replied, “Compared to what?”

This is the appropriate way to judge America’s response to our domestic and international problems. It requires we take reality into account, rather than fantasize about what we would do if there were no uncomfortable facts. And it also requires those who are critical of the choices that we make to pose their alternatives – again, rather than simply putting forward perfect and unachievable approaches.

This has particular force in describing our international position and the response of President Obama to problems in the world for which he has been sharply criticized, not simply by Republicans, but also in some elements of the media.

Three months ago, these voices contrasted a weak Obama with a muscular Russian President Vladimir Putin, crediting the latter with great success in defending his country’s interests as opposed to an American president who had been much less successful. The opposite is much more the case.

Putin badly overreached in Ukraine and now finds himself very much on the defensive, confronting hard policy choices, none of which is very good for his country.

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Russia is now engaged in military action on its own border, and its largest western neighbor is run by a regime that has become very hostile. To avoid a terrible disaster for the pro-Russian forces he had encouraged in that country, Putin has taken action that has united much of the world in criticism of him, and while he may pretend not to mind (I think he does), the economic sanctions that have resulted have been damaging to his country.

A comparable situation for America would be if the Mexican government had declared its determination to join some international group entirely hostile to us, and we were forced to emulate Woodrow Wilson and send American troops across the border to encourage breakaway Mexican provinces. If this sounds outlandish, so does suggesting that in the current situation, Putin is in a very good position while President Obama has been weakened.

Putin’s problems with his neighbors are not nearly as great as Iran’s. Once again, this notion that America somehow is singularly weak vis-a-vis tough, wily enemies reverses the reality.

It is true that the murderous fanatics known as the Islamic State pose a severe regional problem and that we are also concerned that after America’s long-overdue withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban may come back to power. For us, those are troubling results; for Iran, they are very direct threats.

The strength of the Islamic State butchers and the Taliban in Afghanistan mean that Iran’s two bordering states are subject to increasingly hostile influences. Like Putin, the Iranians also face economic sanctions that are having a negative effect on their country. To adapt the analogy I gave with regard to Russia, we would be in the situation the Iranians are in if a group of anti-American fanatics was gaining power in Mexico, while another was increasing influence on our Canadian border, and much of the world was hindering our economy.

Then there is the third power run by a regime that is somewhat hostile to us – China. It faces a major crisis in dealing with the inspiring willingness of a majority of the population of Hong Kong to insist on democracy. It is also embattled, with most of its neighbors over claims to various highlands near its shores.

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Recently, Vietnam – the country that China supported in its war against the U.S. – erupted in ferocious anti-Chinese riots. And China is at odds with the second strongest Asian nation – Japan. It does have one supposed ally on its border: North Korea, and that is clearly as much a source of worry as reassurance for the Chinese government.

It is not simply in international relations that America is in a much better position than those authoritarian countries that some have hailed for their strategic geopolitical cleverness.

Economically, America’s performance since the Great Recession of 2008 has been better than that of any developed nation, in part because, over the objection of conservatives, the Federal Reserve has followed an expansive monetary policy of stimulus. In addition, our fiscal policy, while hindered by right-wing efforts to cut spending at the wrong time, has still avoided the degree of austerity that has kept the nations of Western Europe from matching our economic growth.

The fact that our recovery from the crash has gone significantly better than every other developed economy’s resulted in an article in the Sept. 6 Economist about what is labeled “American exceptionalism” in this regard.

We have further good news, of which you have not read very much because “no news is good news” is the rule for much of journalism today. The projections for our annual deficits are declining. For a variety of reasons, Medicare spending is now significantly reduced from what had been expected, and that improvement is very likely to continue. It is important to note that this has been achieved without cutting benefits to Medicare recipients. And it does appear that the health care reform bill enacted in 2010 has been a contributing factor here, although by no means the entire reason for it.

The deficit now is far less annually than it was when Obama inherited a broken economy, currently falling below the 3 percent of gross domestic product that the European Union, for example, sets as the responsible upper limit. It is also, of course, true that the higher deficits that we had incurred previously, resulting largely from the recession and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had none of the negative effects that conservatives predicted. The sharper deficit reductions in Obama’s first term that Republicans fought for would have slowed our economic recovery even more.

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Of course, America still has problems. The confrontation in Ferguson is a stark reminder that while we have made great progress in dealing with racial differences in America, the issue remains. And we should be addressing the problem that the economic growth we have begun to enjoy is still very unequally distributed, beyond what is needed to keep a capitalist society functioning.

But the basic point remains. In terms of its relationship to the rest of the world, America is in a much better position than Russia, Iran or China. Economically, we are doing far better than any comparable developed nation. These factors are no reasons for complacency. But they are much less reasons for a national mood of lamenting about our weaknesses.

Barney Frank is a retired congressman and the author of landmark legislation. He divides his time between Maine and Massachusetts.

Twitter: @BarneyFrank

— Special to the Telegram


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