I really don't remember a time when "people everywhere" admired and respected America.
Me either. I stand corrected. But I still maintain that America has never been as internationally questioned and distrusted as it is now, at least not since the Vietnam war ended. But even during the Vietnam war, the kind of distrust that the United States received was different than it is now. I think that back then, the opponents of the Vietnam war were hopeful that the United States would change its ways. During the Bush Jr administration, people in other countries who have disapproved of Bush have not been hopeful about the George W. Bush version of the United States.
I'm certain that it has never happened before that a tiny country like Papua New Guinea has spoken up and told the United States to stand back and let others lead, and it has never happened before that the world, including the traditional U.S. allies, has listened to the tiny country and not to the United States.
