Paper Summary:

The paper argues that as a nation, the American people choose to culturally perpetuate the idea that the president is the reason for success or failure in any given international decision, while an outside perspective supports the idea that the US has a history of meddling that overarches the wishes of others. The paper uses North Korea as an example and discusses how while Americans think of president Bush as the mastermind behind the development of North Korea as one of the famed "axis of evil." Koreans often see the whole nation making historically bad decisions to undermine the wishes and will of other nations. The paper provides an image of Obama as a super hero to illustrate how a great many people believe he is wholly in charge of all decisions and actions taken by the US, when really at best he wields a great deal of influence. This paper contains several figures.

From the Paper:

"It would seem that most Americans think of the president as the wielder of an all powerful decision making body. The "administration" is headed by an individual who is the face of the people, a people who seem to believe that he is capable of making all the decisions, despite the fact that he is not and that historically there is rarely a real change in policy, from an international perspective when a "new" head of state takes office. Korea itself is particularly interesting when it comes to this issue as the division between North and South Korea, despite the regional desire for unity, with different terms for unity causing the continual rift was in part supported and created by the US, when a completely different "head of state" was in charge. Many people in the world and especially in Korea see the US as a meddler, seeking to continually serve its own interests all over the world and some of these interests give no credence to the people the "president" is seeking to protect and with only limited belief that the president in charge really makes a difference. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Auerback, M. (2006). Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power. Journal of East Asian Studies, 6(3), 465.
• Begala, P., Buckely, C., Dionne, E., Drum, K., Dwight, N., Easterbrook, G., et al. (2004, September). What If He Wins?. Washington Monthly, 36, 27.
• Donaldson, G. A. (1996). America at War since 1945: Politics and Diplomacy in Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
• "Constructive Feedback" Blogger (April 5, 2009) North Korea - The Theory "You Can Attract More Bees With Honey Than With Vinegar" Goes Up In Smoke. http://afterobama.blogspot.com/2009/04/north-korea-theory-you-can-attract-more.html
• Lankov, A. (2006). Bitter Taste of Paradise: North Korean Refugees in South Korea. Journal of East Asian Studies, 6(1), 105.

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