Against conventional wisdom, I actually think Romney didn’t do too badly on the Libya question last night. Even though I think he could have made some other strong points, I thought the points he made have now focused attention on an area where Obama is quite weak. That said, here’s one point that could have been made that continues to merit attention:
The Obama Doctrine is not spontaneous or new. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton foreshadowed it in aJuly 2011 speech before the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, an international organization comprised of all Muslim-majority nations. Clinton promised the OIC that the U.S. would endorse a government campaign using “old-fashioned techniques of peer pressure and shaming” against citizens who do or say things that the government “abhor[s].” Clinton’s words were warmly welcomed by the OIC, which had been campaigning to limit free speech in western democracies for more than a decade. This most recent OIC speech-restriction campaign is called the “Istanbul Process,” and Hillary Clinton is a proponent.
In short, the Obama team is weak on free speech rights when it comes to criticizing anything related to Islam. This is a legitimate issue.