The thing is, bringing up atrocities and other bad behavior by your country
is holding the country you love to a higher standard. But, just as we don't want to focus on our own (personal) faults, we don't want to focus on the country's faults. This opens it up for cheap political points.
I'm with you Seamuis.
What is also lacking is the appeal to our better nature re. foreign aid. Again this is used to score cheap and cynical political points: how others don't 'deserve' aid, how others 'fail' relative to America when it comes to helping out.
This isn't to say that we ought to be unrealistic about what it means to be a global power. There will be power politics, there will be meddling and military intervention... And the world sees this. (It looks different from the outside than inside.) The power of ideals is often overlooked. The power of simple help & diplomacy is overlooked. The positive effects of foreign aid come at a far lesser cost than military sabre rattling. The red meat politicians see this sort of thing as vegettarian