How They See Us

At this very moment, someone we'll never meet is thinking about America.

In fact, tens of thousands of someones are thinking about America. They are thinking about its towns, or its cities. They are thinking about its world-famous universities. They are thinking about its mountains, beaches, or tourist attractions. They are thinking about Disney World or Hollywood or Times Square. They are thinking about its movies, its music, its athletes. They are thinking about its food or its drinks. And they are thinking all this based on an idea of what they think America actually is.

The United States continues to have a cultural impact throughout the globe. American musical artists are found throughout international radio. American athletes are admired on bedroom walls throughout the globe. American-based corporations like Nike, Starbucks, and McDonalds are now ubiquitous in each and every downtown plaza. Hollywood movies are shown with subtitles at the local movie theater. In each instance, we can see how impressionable younger generations are when it comes to their ideas about our country. They see us through our celebrities. They see us through those who are most visible. 

But they also see us in a different way.

Outside of the comforts of what has been described, there exists a different lens through which America is viewed. This is a lens that comes from 240 years of our history. Of our international relationships. Of our heroically coming to other countries' aid. Of our vicious colonialism that left foreign lands torn apart. Yes, we cannot forget that beyond the posh music and Hollywood glamor, the United States also has a ton of influence through its geopolitics. Whether its the Philippines or Cuba or Iran or Iraq and Afghanistan, children there, growing up in those countries, they too have an idea about America. They too, have a vision for what the country is like. They too, have strong feelings about a land they've never been to. And their vision is a lot less positive than the idealistic one previously presented. 

That is why what the Biden-Harris Administration is doing in Ukraine is so critical. Because unlike TFG, Joe Biden actually cares about what happens to our allies. Unlike TFG, Joe Biden understands that the administration's actions not only impact us today but they impact future generations. Today in Ukraine, a young child will hear the word "America" and will smile. That child will smile because they know that somewhere beyond a great sea is a country that is helping them fight off the bad guys. They might not know about American musicians or sports stars or Hollywood actors but they know that this country is helping them. They know it and other children their age know it too, because their parents are the ones telling it to them.

The adults are back in charge. Joe Biden and his team understand the implications of their foreign policy. They aren't governing by Tweet. They aren't making decisions based on spur-of-the-moment phone calls. And they certainly aren't being puppeteered by Vladimir Putin. Instead, they are reengaging our allies. They are getting historically neutral countries to take a principled stand. They are unifying a global community and ostracizing Russia, showing this mighty bear to in fact be a paper tiger. They are doing all this while simultaneously broadening NATO's reach and influence, the likes of which we haven't seen since its founding. Russia is the weakest it has been in a half-century and that is a direct reflection of the work that Joe Biden has done to rally the international community to Ukraine's side.

Joe Biden is made for this moment. So is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As Ukrainian children learn to admire America, we should teach our own children to admire Ukraine. Because their bravery is inspiring. They are literally fighting for their home. And they're winning. Ukrainian winter is coming but so too are American patriot missiles. Putin's War is likely to become Putin's Folly in the history books. All this because we have a Democratic administration that understands geopolitics and understands that what we do now impacts how the rest of the world sees the United States for generations to come. Joe Biden knows this and it is why he time and time again has stated that America should not just lead by the example of its power but by the power of its example. That example is on full display for all in Ukraine to see.

It is that shining example that is giving tens of thousands of children in Ukraine hope. It matters to them. It matters to us as Americans that this administration is again on the right side of history. Because we all know TFG wouldn't have intervened. We all know he would have bent the knee to Putin. As violent as this war has been, it would have been one hundred times worse had TFG given Putin the green light to invade, which he surely would have done. Had that happened, we would have had a generation of Ukrainian children cursing the America name. Yet thanks to 81 million of us, that won't be the case. Instead, the Ukrainian children still have hope, a hope provided to them by their president, their soldiers, their families, and a far off land that they will never see. It is that hope that will sustain them during these long winter months.

And it is that hope that the Biden Administration has provided through its actions these past 10 months.

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