Who's Better Off?

[Geee]

American Spectator:

In his debate with Jimmy Carter on October 28, 1980, Ronald Reagan looked at the television cameras and said, "Ask yourself, 'Are you better off now than you were four years ago?'" It's always a good political question, but it's too often not asked outside the context of our domestic issues.

The question is equally important if it's focused outward: who among our enemies and allies are better off now than they were on the day President Obama was inaugurated? The answers are a cacophony of bad news, as bad as the answer to the current domestic version of the question.

Let's go down the list. Since January 2009, how have Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, Afghanistan, Israel, and our European allies fared? Has Russia or China become less powerful or more aligned with America's interests?

Iran has become far more powerful and much closer to achieving its nuclear weapons ambitions in the past three years and eight months. Its uranium enrichment facilities are running at full speed, at least one of its Russian-built nuclear power plants has come on line, and a significant portion of the facilities most important to weapons development have been moved far underground. The Iranians are approaching -- and will quickly reach -- the point at which these facilities are invulnerable to all but the most sophisticated cyberwar attacks and nuclear weapons.