Biden ends the War in Afghanistan, but too many Americans still like imperialism

By Steve Otto

The longest war in US history is finally over. And while many of us on the left are cheering that the US is finally ending the occupation of Afghanistan, there are polls that show the US imperialism still has a lot of support.

Many Americans still see the US as a “protector of civilization” for third world countries. It is not that different from such attitudes as “The White Man’s burden” a poem by Rudyard Kipling.[1] His work was an apologist for the imperialistic and arrogance of western governments and the policies of colonialism, common in the 19^th century. From ABC News:

 

“Americans are upset about how the withdrawal of U.S. troops has unfolded, and they are eager to see the U.S. help clean up the mess. But Americans are also fickle — even self-contradictory — when it comes to foreign policy.

First, only 25 percent of registered voters believed the Afghanistan withdrawal was going very or somewhat well, and 57 percent thought it was going not too well or not well at all, according to a Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted Aug. 13-16, as Kabul was falling to the Taliban. And Americans largely blame President Biden for this: A subsequent Morning Consult poll, conducted Aug. 16-19, found that 43 percent of registered voters thought Biden held a great deal of responsibility for the situation — more than Congress or any of Biden’s three predecessors, who all clocked in at 24 to 27 percent.” 

 

And according to a Ipsos/Reuters poll, Bidens three predecessors did better :

 

“George W. Bush (47 percent good, 39 percent bad), Barack Obama (51 percent good, 38 percent bad) and Donald Trump (51 percent good, 36 percent bad) — all got better, though not stellar, grades.

 Notably, of course, this still means more Americans support withdrawal than oppose it, by 12- to 17-point margins.”

 

What is really bad is to see Bush and Trump with higher scores. These two are probably among the worst leaders this country ever allowed to run as the president. The right-wing ass hole Trump got 51 percent. That’s ridiculous. We on the left have a lot of work left to do with poll numbers like that.

On the brighter side, most Americans wanted the US to leave Afghanistan:

 

“Notably…. more Americans support withdrawal than oppose it, by 12- to 17-point margins.”

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[1] As Victorian imperial poetry, "The White Man's Burden" thematically corresponded to Kipling's belief that the British Empire was the Englishman's "Divine Burden to reign God's Empire on Earth" and celebrates British colonialism as a mission of civilization that eventually would benefit the colonized natives.