According to the last survey conducted periodically by the Pew Research Center and the Council of Foreign Relations, America is no longer sure of its place in the world (“Pay any Price? Pull the Other One,” December 12, 2009). Nearly fifty percent of the general public there feels that America should “mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along as best they can on their own,” whereas only thirty percent felt that way in December 2002. Indeed, American isolationism pops up every now and then, usually after bouts of boisterous internationalism. Unfortunately, such bouts are usually perceived differently by Americans and many others, who usually complain of American interventionism. Now that Barrack Obama is trying to mend fences trampled by George Bush, many Americans would prefer him focusing on internal affairs instead. If only he could persuade them that internationalism is not the same thing as interventionism, isolationism would perhaps go away. America would start playing its part in world affairs as though it is nothing more than the first among equals.