Obama lays it all out in a few words.

This from Democracy Now! today. We can let go of any disingenuous talk about spreading democracy and freedom around the world. We have defined American exceptionalism, and laid out our plan to flatten anyone who gets in our way.

In an address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Obama openly embraced an aggressive military doctrine backed by previous administrations on using armed force beyond the international norm of self-defense. Obama told the world that the United States is prepared to use its military to defend what he called "our core interests" in the Middle East: U.S. access to oil. "[Obama] basically came out and said the U.S. is an imperialist nation and we’re going to do whatever we need to do to conquer areas [and] take resources from people around the world," says independent journalist Jeremy Scahill. "It’s a really naked declaration of imperialism ... When we look back at Obama’s legacy, this is going to have been a very significant period in U.S. history where the ideals of very radical right-wing forces were solidified. President Obama has been a forceful, fierce defender of empire."
Somehow, we have let this happen. We have, in many small decisions, built the foundation for this definition of who we are. Of course, this has always been the case starting with  the virtual elimination of the First People. I guess the biggest surprise is that we fooled ourselves into thinking that we have benevolent motives for so long. And it seems to me that  we are lousy at being imperialists, lousy at winning wars, lousy at running other countries, lousy at winning hearts and minds.

We very much need to define who we are, both individually and as a nation. And we need to be the great nation we want to think of ourselves as before spreading ruin.