Posted on 10/20/2009 7:13:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The world thinks better of the United States, we are told, because Barack Obama is in the White House. Maybe the world is wrong.
It’s fanciful, of course, to speak of what “the world” thinks about anything. It’s safe to say that among Norwegian prize-givers and Canadian avant-garde filmmakers, Obama is extremely popular. And certainly among bien pensant Americans, the advent of Obama is viewed as the moral pinnacle of American history. It has always been a particular vanity of the Left to believe itself morally superior to others. But the claims for this presidency have been beyond extravagant. Global human rights, morality, and justice took a “great leap forward” (as Anita Dunn’s favorite political philosopher might say) on January 20. But in the space of just nine months, the Obama administration has betrayed the cause of human rights around the globe.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped set the tone in February by swatting away a question about human rights abuses in China. Those issues, she said, “can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis.” Political prisoners, Tibetans, and religious minorities may have been dejected by this stony dismissal, but the Chinese government was delighted. “This type of realistic attitude could be followed by other Western leaders,” an official newspaper noted with satisfaction.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians endured tear gas, bullets, arrests, and torture in an attempt to topple one of the most vicious and dangerous regimes in the world. Yet day after day, President Obama, moral beacon to the world, dismissed and even denigrated them. He was not going to allow a bunch of democrats to interfere with his meticulously planned overture of friendship toward the mullahs. His condemnation of the violence and brutality of the regime was so tepid, tardy, and grudging that it amounted to tacit support for the government. Another blow to human rights and morality.
The people of Honduras, who have struggled painfully to achieve a successful democracy, threw off a would-be dictator who threatened to plunge the nation back to autocracy. Rather than help to solidify Honduras’s devotion to its constitution, Obama (together with those well-known human rights avatars Hugo Chávez and the Castro brothers) sided with Manuel Zelaya and imposed sanctions on the legitimate government. Which side better represents human rights and morality?
But surely on a matter as grave as mass murder, President Obama will not permit realpolitik or misplaced faith in diplomacy to trump human rights? Who can forget Senator Obama’s eloquent condemnation of the Bush administration for negotiating with the Sudanese regime? “I am deeply concerned,” candidate Obama intoned, “by reports that the Bush administration is negotiating a normalization of relations with the Government of Sudan that would include removing it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. . . . This reckless and cynical initiative would reward a regime in Khartoum that has a record of failing to live up to its commitments. . . . Before we improve our relationship with the government of Sudan, conditions must improve for the Sudanese people. We cannot stand down — we must continue to stand up for peace and human rights.” Why did the senator feel so strongly about it? Because “the United States has a moral obligation, anytime you see humanitarian catastrophes. . . . And when you see a genocide, whether it’s in Rwanda, or Bosnia, or in Darfur, that’s a stain on all of us; that’s a stain on our souls.”
How are our souls looking today? On Monday, the Washington Post reported that that the U.S. “will shift its policy toward Sudan to one based on working with the country’s government instead of isolating it.” Whereas he had once demanded that “the international community must, over the Sudanese regime’s protests, deploy a large, capable U.N.-led and U.N.-funded force with a robust enforcement mandate to stop the killings,” the president now says that “if the government of Sudan acts to improve the situation on the ground and to advance peace, there will be incentives; if it does not, then there will be increased pressure imposed by the United States and the international community.” Incentives? For Omar al-Bashir, the only head of state currently under indictment by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity? That threat of “increased pressure” must really terrify him. It’s the fierce urgency of the kow tow.
Finally, by joining the Human Rights Committee of the U.N., President Obama has granted U.S. prestige to the howling claque of Israel and America bashers.
This is moral uplift?
— Mona Charen is a nationally syndicated columnist.
Was Zer0 on board? Or was it a hoax?
From outside the U.S. what is not to like about the Santa Claus President. They don’t have to pay our taxes.
Since when does a proven serial liar have a moral balloon!
Let’s see, we already have the radical Van Jones exposed for the commie that the commie that he is...
Now we have two of Obama’s “czars” declaring their admiration for Mao Tse Tung’s policies ( that killed tens of millions of people ). We also have Kevin Jennigs, active member of radical gay group ACT-UP, who tells a 15 year old who had sex with a teacher -— he hoped he used a condom — instead of reporting the teacher, as School-safety Czar.
We also know of his close association with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers ( who now confesses he helped write his book — DREAMS OF MY FATHER ). Did I fail to mention “God Damn America” Reverend Wright ?
What does that make of Obama’s personal sympathies and plans for this country ?
Unless there is a major overhaul of congress next year, I’m afraid this nation is on its pass towards destruction.
lol left has no morals and has never managed the economy... the left is how we got to where we are today...
They found his ego was too big of a payload. Not to mention his ears...
“Unless there is a major overhaul of congress next year, I’m afraid this nation is on its pass towards destruction.”
The American people continue to be uninformed and unconcerned. I have no faith in them, and believe that the American people will only notice what’s happening when it’s too late to do anything about it.
Perfect description of the Smart Power set, ‘the fierce urgency of the kow tow’.
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