I don't think you and I mean the same thing by "standing in the world," as the examples in my post should have made clear.

The girl who would sleep with anyone in high school was enormously popular, and if there had been any polls, no doubt they would have reflected that, but that doesn't make it a good thing.

A president can be popular in much the same way: by rolling onto his back and doing anything the international community, including our adversaries, wants.

I went through this same crap years ago. Liberals gauged how we were doing in foreign policy by whether or not the Soviet Union thought we were a bunch of swell guys. When the communists started screaming about people like Reagan, the liberals lined up with them. "How could you screw up so badly? Look at how MAD you're making people!"