On the Role of Our Federal Government in Response to a Friend's Facebook Post and the Ensuing Response

Education, infrastructure (tech and transportation), healthcare, sustainable energy, safe food and water, R&D. This is where we need to be spending domestically and not pouring so much into the military industrial complex. I'm all for defense, but we need to not be so liberal with our military spending, it has gotten out of control.
There are over 300 million people living here, in this country, and we need to refocus on the "homies" and the "homeland" moreso than simply Homeland Defense. I support our military and the people risking their lives to defend our nation - what they do is both admirable and noble - but it's just like with personal growth...you have to work on yourself before you can truly help others, and we are overextended throughout the world. (And NO, I have not forgotten 9/11 whatsoever).
We also need government to regulate corporations - ESPECIALLY finance and the healthcare industries - to the extent that they don't take advantage of their fellow citizens. The changes that have been made in credit card policy and lending, i.e., mortgages, in the past 2 years have been a boon to countless people who are or would be underwater financially b/c of predatory lending. Hell, I had a 30% interest rate b/c I was late on a credit card payment when I was 25 years old. Thankfully I finally wised up and got an installment loan with my credit union and I'm now paying it off at a much lower rate instead of pissing away interest payments for the next 20 years.
We live in a global economy and a tiny world. Anyone read Michael Friedman at all? "The World is Flat." Check it out. Gas prices are out of control, but demand is also way higher than it ever has been and, unfortunately, oil prices are set based on futures, meaning predictions about how supply and demand will look in the future, not how they presently exist. We desperately need to commit to R&D for clean, sustainable energy.
Sure we have the means and, I believe, a moral imperative, to help our friends and fellow global citizens around the world, especially those who are victims of natural disasters and oppresive regimes, but we need to take care of our own first and foremost.
Finally, back to the original point of my friend's post...Obama is an American. He's not the best negotiator when it comes to drawing a line in the sand and saying "this is how it is" the way Bush was. He came into Washington and tried to play nice with bullies. That's what we're taught to do in school and at home, but unfortunately that's not always the best strategy. Or at least not the most effective.
Our president is, however, patriotic, he does love America and he is trying to make this country be the best global citizen it can be and he wants to take care of his people at home, which in my mind, is the most important role our government should play.