Obama Popular Abroad

Nile Gardiner, writing in the London Telegraph, nails the reason for President Obama's popularity in other countries:

Obama’s popularity at the UN boils down essentially to his willingness to downplay American global power. He is the first American president who has made an art form out of apologizing for the United States.

Gardiner concludes about the results of this approach:

This is a dangerous strategy of decline that will weaken US power and make her far more vulnerable to attack.