“Where the Americans?” That’s the sixty-four-dollar question. Chaos in Egypt: “Where are the Americans?”

Gadaffi in Libya: “Where are the Americans?” Devastation in Japan: “Where are the Americans?”

I am in London for a few days. At a dinner party last night, that was once again the question: “Where are the Americans?”

On Tuesday, U.S. debt jumped $72 billion — in one day. What are the Americans doing about it? President Obama’s Secretary of the Treasury insisted that Congress raise the debt limit so that the government could borrow more.

“Where are the Americans?” President Obama has managed the impossible-seeming feat of making a President of France appear as decisive and effective.  Nicolas Sarkozy was the first Western leader to recognize the Libyan opposition.

“Where are the Americans?”

Roger Kimball is unimpressed with President Nothing.

The trouble with doing (and being) Nothing is that other people notice:

Lots of people are going to be beating their breasts and saying how they meant well but believe me Iran and North Korea are watching. They will recognize that we had the best chance ever to remove an actual enemy, a person directly responsible for killing Americans, a person for whom there was popular support to do so, and we choose not to.

How hollow are any warnings concerning Nuclear Proliferation going to be from this point on? How willing will people considering a popular uprising move knowing there is not cost if the dictators choose to kill any who oppose them?

And when these foes consider how to aggressively supply those who would LOVE to hit us either at home or abroad, do you think they are going to listen to any warning we give? It’s going to mean that when they act we will have to pay a much higher price to stop them.

You know it’s bad when even the servants get restless:

At the tail end of her mission to bolster the Libyan opposition, which has suffered days of losses to Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s forces, Clinton announced that she’s done with Obama after 2012 — even if he wins again.

“Obviously, she’s not happy with dealing with a president who can’t decide if today is Tuesday or Wednesday, who can’t make his mind up,” a Clinton insider told The Daily. “She’s exhausted, tired.”

He went on, “If you take a look at what’s on her plate as compared with what’s on the plates of previous Secretary of States — there’s more going on now at this particular moment, and it’s like playing sports with a bunch of amateurs. And she doesn’t have any power. She’s trying to do what she can to keep things from imploding.”

Clinton is said to be especially peeved with the president’s waffling over how to encourage the kinds of Arab uprisings that have recently toppled regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, and in particular his refusal to back a no-fly zone over Libya.

Hmm. Where are the Americans – just when you need them?