It sure didn't take long.

Bumpers of cars and trucks are already sporting messages like "Impeach Obama" and "Praise Allah and Obama." While Obama has been meeting heads of state in Europe, mending relationships with Russia, and reassuring the Muslim world that the US is not at war with Islam, Right Wing conservatives have been tripping over themselves to denounce the president here at home.

We've watched conservative commentator Glenn Beck sobbing with righteous indignation over who knows what, Rep. Michele Bachmann warning Americans to stock up on ammunition for the coming civil war, and the always entertaining Newt Gingrich suggesting that the US should bomb North Korea to prevent the country from launching a long-range missile.

It's easy to dismiss the buffoonery of Beck.

But Bachmann is an elected official - a frightening thought. And Gingrich argues with the authoritarian whack-in-the-head of a turn-of-the-century schoolmaster. Never mind that his hands-on experience at governing has never matched his ambitions.

Gingrich has joined former Vice President Dick Cheney in saying that the US has become weaker under Obama, portraying the president's approach to diplomacy as little more than fantasy.

The irony in all of this is that both Gingrich and Cheney know that an attack on North Korea or Iran could provoke two more wars that the US is unprepared to handle.

Even worse, counter attacks on South Korea, Japan, or Israel could expose that the US would be hard pressed to defend its close allies.

Meanwhile, Obama spoke directly to Muslim youth in Turkey as if to steer them away from anti-American sentiment. It's a scene that will be broadcast for days throughout the Muslim world.

Isn't this a welcome change from the images of Muslim youth inflamed with hate for America?

The theatrics of the Right Wing is a sobering reminder that Republicans have repeatedly ascended to power by galvanizing fear and mistrust against some kind of enemy - in this case, Islamic terrorists.

With an economy in shambles and two seemingly endless wars, Americans already know that the US is weaker than it has been in decades.

Do we need a weakened president, too?