DISTURBING, BUT UNDERSTANDABLE - AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  There has been a sharp rise of isolationist sentiment in the United States, according to the latest Pew poll.  This is understandable at a time of domestic economic distress, and occurred in the 1930s as well.  But it is dangerous when the threats against us are real, and growing:

WASHINGTON — At the very moment when President Barack Obama is looking to thrust the U.S. ever more into global affairs, from Afghanistan to climate change, the American public is turning more isolationist and unilateralist than it has at any time in decades, according to a new poll released Thursday.

The survey by the Pew Research Center found a plurality of Americans — 49 percent — think that the U.S. should "mind its own business internationally" and leave it to other countries to fend for themselves.

It was the first time in more than 40 years of polling that the ranks of Americans with isolationist sentiment outnumbered those with a more international outlook, Pew said.

"The U.S. public is turning decidedly inward," Pew said.

Maybe a little more gratitude by foreign nations, especially Muslim nations, whom we've repeatedly helped, would reverse a little of this trend.

It's also growing more unilateralist, with 44 percent saying that the U.S. "should go our own way in international matters, not worrying about whether other countries agree with us or not."

That was the highest percentage since the question was first asked in 1964.

Cheers on that one.  We want allies whenever possible, obviously, but this obsession with international popularity has become completely irrational.  Even CBS's Bob Schieffer, a liberal, said in frustration after Mr. Obama's Afghan speech, "This is not a football game." 

And get this:

A majority of Americans, 53 percent, see China's growing power as a "major threat." That's virtually unchanged from what the quadrennial poll found in 2001 and 2005.

However, 642 members of the Council on Foreign Relations, who are seen as opinion leaders and also were polled by Pew, had the opposite view. Just 21 percent of them saw China as a major threat, down from 38 percent in 2001 and 30 percent in 2005.

For them, Pew said, "China has been transformed from a major threat to the United States to an increasingly important future ally."

An increasingly important future ally?  Well, we certainly hope so, but I'd love to know what evidence these "opinion leaders have."  China, just this last week, threw a "made in China" monkey wrench into our plans for increased sanctions on Iran, a critical issue for the United States. 

I'd like to see some proof that China intends to be our ally. 

December 4, 2009