This morning I read President Obama’s speech to the UN General Assembly and would like to take this time to draw attention to eight things in it that I found really annoying.
I’m sure that many of you upon reading the preceding sentence will ask, “Only eight?” Well, I do believe in mercy. Not to Obama, but to my readers. But I digress.
1. Russia & Ukraine
President Obama did provide a nice summary of all the things Russia has done to Ukraine in recent months: annexation of Crimea, arming violent separatists, shooting down a civilian airliner and eventually moving troops into Ukraine.
So how does Obama intend to respond in kind? He proclaims, “We will impose a cost on Russia for aggression, and counter falsehoods with truth.”
What cost could the Obama Administration possibly be prepared to impose upon Russia that would deter it from further aggression against Ukraine? Let’s remember this is the man who told us that if we liked our health insurance, we could keep it. Obama is hardly in any position to tell the world he will counter falsehoods with truth.
No doubt the Russian delegation had a hearty laugh upon hearing that portion of the speech.
2. Nuclear Agreement with Iran
President Obama said with regard to Iran, “America is pursuing a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue, as part of our commitment to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and pursue the peace and security of a world without them. This can only happen if Iran takes this historic opportunity. My message to Iran’s leaders and people is simple: do not let this opportunity pass.”
Now let me offer a translation of what Obama really mean:
Please sign this agreement!!! Please!!! You can enrich all the uranium you want. We’ll even supply you with some of our own. Pretty please!!!
If the Obama Administration and Iran come to a nuclear agreement the only historic opportunity it will present is the one in which Iran bamboozles the Obama Administration.
3. Obama Lectures the World on Thinking Outside the 21st Century
“On issue after issue, we cannot rely on a rule-book written for a different century.”
This reminds me of when Obama chided Vladimir Putin after he placed Russian troops on the Ukrainian border last March. Obama told Scott Pelley, “That is not how international law and international norms are observed in the 21st century.”
Actually, it’s exactly how international law and norms are observed in the 21st century. Putin’s thinking might be in the 19th Century and ISIS’ might be in the 7th Century, but they understand the nature of power a whole lot better than our 21st century President. That makes for a very dangerous mix.
4. There is No Clash of Civilizations
After Obama offered his usual bromides about not being at war with Islam (even though a great deal of Islam is at war with us) and that Islam teaches peace, he also stated “we reject any suggestion of a clash of civilizations.”
This observation can hardly be surprising from the man who claims ISIS isn’t Islamic. ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al Adnani begs to differ. In a recording which threatened attacks on Western civilians earlier this week, al Adnani asks when Obama became “a sheikh, a mufti and an Islamic preacher.”
But even among those Muslims who aren’t affiliated with ISIS and aren’t otherwise seeking to behead innocent civilians, there are many who wish to impose Sharia law in the West and parts of many European cities have become Sharia controlled zones. If the imposition of Sharia law, which places the status of Muslims above non-Muslims and says the word of a woman is worth half that of a man, doesn’t present a clash of civilizations then what does?
To deny there is a clash of civilizations is to deny not only the nature of Islamic extremism, but that the substantially different views of the West and the Muslim world.
5. Obama Just Can’t Stop Bashing Bush
Concerning our fight with ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Obama states, “In this effort, we do not act alone.”
At what point in the Obama presidency does the Bush bashing stop? Some time in year seven possibly?
As Obama likes to say, make no mistake. President Bush not only didn’t act unilaterally in Iraq, he actually built a larger coalition than Obama has to this point.
Obama says that “over 40 nations have offered to join this coalition.” The operative word here being offered.
6. Obama’s Praise of a Moderate Muslim Who Isn’t Very Moderate
President Obama acknowledged the importance of combating the ideology of Islamic extremism be it by ISIS, al Qaeda or Boko Haram.
In so doing, Obama praised the work of Sheikh Abdulla bin Bayyah who recently established the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies. “We must declare war on war, so the outcome will be peace upon peace.”
It’s too bad that bin Bayyah’s message of peace doesn’t extend to American soldiers. Ten years ago, bin Bayyah endorsed a fatwa calling for the murder of American soldiers and civilian personnel in Iraq.
But hey what can one expect of bin Bayyah? He is, after all, the right hand man to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi who heads the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS). Qaradawi has, over the years, called for suicide bombings in Israel and murdering apostates and homosexuals. Qaradawi is banned from entering the United States. IUMS has long standing ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. But not to worry the Obama Administration considers them to be largely secular organizations.
Apparently calling for the murder of American soldiers did not deter the Obama Administration from inviting bin Bayyah to the White House last year.
7. More Moral Equivalence on Israel & The Palestinians
President Obama can’t resist the opportunity to stick it to Israel. He bemoaned “Israelis ready to abandon the hard work of peace.” This, of course, assumes the Palestinians were ever interested in peace with Israel.
“We cannot afford to turn away from this effort – not when rockets are fired at innocent Israelis, or the lives of so many Palestinian children are taken from us in Gaza.”
And whose fault is that?
That would be Hamas on both counts. Hamas fired rockets at Israeli civilians and Hamas also prevented Palestinians from fleeing the retaliatory response by the IDF by imposing a curfew. Gazans who sought to heed Israel’s warnings about retaliation were shot on sight.
8. We’re No Better Than ISIS or Russia
Remember when Obama Administration official Michael Posner apologized to China for the Arizona immigration law a few years back?
Well, here’s Obama:
I realize that America’s critics will be quick to point out that at times we too have failed to live up to our ideals; that America has plenty of problems within our own borders. This is true. In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri – where a young man was killed, and a community was divided. So yes, we have our own racial and ethnic tensions.
Good grief.
Obama operates under the assumption that the police officer in question shot the young man out of racial animus instead of what may have been an act of self-defense. But since when does Obama care about the facts? He certainly didn’t where it concerned his friend “Skip” Gates in Cambridge a few years back.
Ferguson, Missouri may have social problems. But there is a world of difference between living in Ferguson and living in Fallujah. Whatever the shortcomings of the Ferguson Police Department, they should never be confused with ISIS, much less Russia.
When it is all said and done, President Obama said nothing to advance American credibility around the world.
