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Political Hay
Hillary's Saari Tour of India
Last week's controversy had Hillary in a burqa -- with liberal blogress Tina Brown claiming that President Obama was treating his Secretary of State like a "Saudi wife." But this week, Mrs. Clinton is in India. She is the latest of administration officials to go abroad looking for things to apologize about. You might call this her "Saari Tour" of India. The administration is in danger of becoming, quite literally, the sorriest one in our history.
Mrs. Clinton spoke to the Indians about climate change. She apologized for past U.S. failures and said she hoped India would be able to avoid our mistakes. "No one wants to stop or undermine the economic growth that is necessary to lift millions out of poverty," she said. But the Obama administration's Cap and Trade (and Tax) legislation arguably does exactly that.
"The challenge is to create a global framework that recognizes the different needs and responsibilities of developed and developing countries alike," she said. We need to examine that phrase carefully. There's an assumption in those words that cannot go unchallenged. Hillary seems to think that U.S. is developed, that we have reached some advanced stage and that we are in a position to negotiate world agreements on how far and how fast other nations progress.
This shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how nations interact and how economies work. If we Americans are not still developing, we are decaying. It's that simple. If we think we can negotiate with other nations how far they shall go, what makes us think that they should listen to us? Especially when we approach them with our tail between our legs?
When I served as a U.S. Ambassador, I never found it productive at the UN or in any other international venues to go around apologizing for U.S. conduct. It should be clear that all Americans can think of things in our history we regret. I hate to think, for example, that Americans were ever involved in the slave trade. But I hardly think it's helpful to go to Africa or the Caribbean nations and bring that issue up now. In fact, when President Jefferson in 1806 called upon Congress to act quickly to eradicate the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, he called it a violation of the "human rights" of innocent Africans. He used the strongest anti-slavery language of any president prior to Abraham Lincoln. If only President Jefferson had coupled his ban on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade with a congressional ban on the interstate commerce in human beings, we might have been able to avoid the horrors of civil war.
While I do not recommend apologies to other nations as a tool of diplomacy, there is certainly one deeply flawed aspect of U.S.-Indian relations we here at home should all acknowledge -- forced sterilizations in that continental nation. While some American liberals like best-selling author Paul Ehrlich demanded concerted action against what he called "the Population Bomb," India bore the brunt of international demands for population control to be linked to development aid.
The New York Times reported what happened in India:
''The police literally dragged people in from the fields to the vasectomy table,'' he said.
As a result there were more than six million sterilizations that year, three times the number of any previous year.
Another result was that the public outrage generated by the program was so great as to become a factor in Mrs. Gandhi's electoral defeat in 1977.
Even teenage boys, it was reported, were being pressured into getting vasectomies.
Has the U.S. apologized for what its representatives did then? Or for what the UN did with U.S. financial aid? Well, yes and no.
President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City doctrine turned the United States away from the idea that the world should contain fewer but better quality people. The inherent racism in that notion was rejected by Reagan. He cut off all funding to organizations that promoted or performed abortions as a part of family planning. He de-funded outfits like the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and International Planned Parenthood.
Reagan was not about apologizing for past U.S. conduct. That is never a good international negotiating posture. But his Mexico City policy implied that past administration's were wrong -- and grievously wrong -- in what they did and in what they allowed to be done in our name.
Secretary of State Clinton is defending Obama policy in India and around the world. One of the first things President Obama did is to open up the spigots of taxpayer funding for UNFPA and Planned Parenthood. Abortion is now a leading U.S. export.
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Melvin| 7.21.09 @ 7:28AM
Came someone please tell me what exactly is this woman's job? She sure as hell isn't acting like a Sec. of State. Come to think of it, Hillary Clinton current job description is more like a talent scout for the Jerry Springer Show.
Regional wars abound, Iran is on a nuclear threshold, terrorism is making inroads in Africa and Hillary, is cavorting around the world worried about population control and Global Warming?
"Earth to Hillary and Barrack," If Iran goes nuclear and exports nuclear terrorism, we won't have to worry about population control or Global Warming, nuclear radiation will take care of those problems.
stephanie| 7.21.09 @ 8:11AM
To me, it looks like Barry has Hillary and Bill right where he wants them. On a short leash.
And you're right Melvin, there are so many more pressing matters than this made up global warming, oh, excuse me, climate change BS which is nothing more than another way to control the populace.
She should have kept her promise to the citizens of NY and finished up her term there.
It seems that there, she would have been more her own person. I am embarrassed for her.
Pingback| 7.21.09 @ 9:32AM
Latte Links (7/21) | Caffeinated Thoughts links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Louis Jenkins| 7.21.09 @ 9:35AM
Hillary is an embarassment to the US, at least to those who have pride in the nation's past. But she is acting as directed by her boss. Barry is making her feel important, keeping her out of the way, and controlling the Clinton political powerhouse. She is so needy for public attention and esteem she couldn't pass up the promotion, even if is sweeping the floor, dusting the furniture, etc. "Want sum more tea Mr. Obama?" It is amazing-a fairly vicious watch dog turned to licking up crumbs that fall from the master's dinner table. A consumate lackey.
Marc Jeric| 7.21.09 @ 10:20AM
Hillary, our cattle futures trader-in-chief, is trying to sell the Indians the globaloney warming hoax. And more abortions and vasectomies. She will also teach Indians how to design and construct nuclear power plants - except there is no more nuclear industry in US; Carter and eco-nazis destroyed that industry, among others. If we ever decide to go nuclear power again (small chance with marxists and eco-nazis in total power) we would have to buy technology and equipment from the French. Hillary is really what the French president Sarkozy called "racaille".
Tyler| 7.21.09 @ 12:23PM
I saw hillary on that hack greta van susteran show last night talking about how bad America is. I agree completely hillary clinton is definitly embarrasing. America is the greatest nation of all time thanks mostly to conservatives and white males who fought in the military, built the building and infastructure. I feel sorry for clinton she has no pride in her own country. I haven't heard her say one good thing about America.
Tim| 7.21.09 @ 12:41PM
I once spoke with an Egyptian about how US policy was seen as an attempt to wipe out muslims in that country. He said that free US birth control pills really help fatten up chickens though.
Robert Rosencrans| 7.21.09 @ 12:45PM
A bitch too far.
matt jones| 7.21.09 @ 1:19PM
apparently their is an intrisic racist tone to a notion that their should be less people but better quality people. for one the notion is skewered by the author's malicious deceptions. the notion of better people does not refer to particular races but rather to the treatment each individual recievies, which is logically reduced when resources are divided over and over again. i do not percieve any racism in that notion and it is worthy of note that the author attempts to- comically- spin Clinton's comment on developed nations to mean a percievied bias and attempt to switch american arrogance from conservatives to liberals, despite the the fact most high school freshmann can understand the notion that developed nations refers to a academically comprehended view of nations which are capable of commerce and trade, as well as having certain standards of health and life expectancy. this article is yet another poor attempt to use the goodwill trips on the part of the Obama administration as definitions of inherent flaws in the current state of affairs. it's time the culture of death crowd- conservatives who obsess over every attempt at change as an assualt on values they themselves have not been shown to hold quit beating this dead horse.
Tony in Central PA| 7.21.09 @ 1:57PM
From " Idiocracy "
" I'm Secretary of State, brought to you by Carl's Jr ".
stephanie| 7.21.09 @ 2:31PM
Mr. Jones,
Go jump in a lake.
Better yet, move to the EU.
JJ| 7.21.09 @ 2:47PM
The culture of death is within your aborted little brain MJ.
BTW, no one has ever fully lived within their aspired to values 100% of the time. Hypocrites abound daily in all walks of life. No need to be throwing out time tested values.
rdman| 7.21.09 @ 2:50PM
Costa Rica's Arias, appointed by Hillary, reminded the political rivals that the agreements are what seven and a half million Hondurans want. He reminded them of the damage they are doing. "Without economic aid, without foreign commerce, without recognition of international organizations," Arias stated, that "You are condemning the solidarity of the nation that is marching toward an uncertain destiny. It is possible to reach a reconciliation".
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This Arias statement is illogical and upside down thinking. This statement borders on extortion. According to Arias:
* If Honduras agrees to allow Zelaya (Chavez) back into power, it will have to compromise its Law and its Sovereignty.
* If Honduras does not compromise its Law and its Sovereignty, it will suffer the damage described in Arias' statement.
Arias' statement and reasoning does not represent the Rule of Law... the statement represents the Rule of Man which parallels Marxist Doctrine. If Arias' proposals prevail, Costa Rica will forever lose its standing as the Switzerland of Latin America and Arias will forever share the stage with our own clown, Jimmy Carter.
If these proposals prevail, there will be violence and bloodshed in Honduras... Zelaya, with the assistance of Chavez and Ortega, will violently suppress all opposition.
In a sane world, every democratic country in the hemisphere should be repudiating this mediation process. Honduras acted in accordance to their sovereign Law. There is nothing to mediate!!
Every democratic country in the hemisphere, especially Costa Rica and the United States, should be celebrating Honduras' adherence to the Rule of Law, coming to the aid of Honduras and condemning the actions of the so-called international organizations and the region's Marxist bullies.
As a Rule of Law Nation, Honduras was marching to a certain destiny of what Costa Ricans call "Pura Vida", loosely translated "The Good Life."
As a Rule of Man Nation (Zelaya/Chavez), Honduras would most certainly be marching to a destiny of a Marxist Cuba/Venezuela gulag.
If Arias is successful in returning Zelaya to the Presidency of Honduras, how long will it take for Chavez and his thugs to be knocking on Costa Rica's door with their rifle butts.
And now Hillary is threatening to withhold aid to poor, little Honduras in the their hour of need not to be taken over by Marxists thugs.
BIZARRE INSANITY!!!!
ET| 7.21.09 @ 7:13PM
Let's see if we can also get Ruth Bader Ginsburg to expand on that comment regarding populations that "We don't want more of", or whatnot. It would be very helpful if she could be a bit more specific.
ds80| 7.21.09 @ 7:45PM
Robert Rosencrans - your post made my day :-)
OldSkeptic| 7.21.09 @ 8:04PM
Please do not take Hillary serious. She is our window dressing to other nations so they will feel superior to US... That is part of our tour of appolgy for using a lot of resources... We are working to reduce the usage and so bring our economy down to the other country's level. Then we will get more sympathy and thus... have a higher standing in the eyes of the world... Wow...
WillyMc| 7.22.09 @ 6:22AM
Although Thomas Jefferson did not attempt to ban slavery from western territories while he was President, he did do so while representing Virginia in the United States Congress, assembled, around 1786, when they were discussing a territorial government for the Northwest Territory. His ban was defeated by one vote (each State had one vote).
Sandra| 7.22.09 @ 6:27AM
This administration is, literally, the worst , EVER, in American History.
Don| 7.22.09 @ 1:07PM
It is sad when we have leaders like Obama, his wife, and others like Clinton preaching to the world how ashamed they are of this country. It is even sadder to think about all those who voted this administration into office. What must they think about their own country to put it in the complete and unchecked control of these people?
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