September 24, 2009
THE POST-AMERICAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES THE UNITED NATIONS by Mark Davis, WBAP Radio, 820AM
September 23, 2009
Barack Obama�s words before the United Nations General Assembly had the advance adrenaline potential of a Miley Cyrus appearance before an arena full of seventh-grade girls.
The assembled hall of largely America-hating practitioners and tolerators of tyranny and despotism clapped loudly as The Anointed One spoke his first words about how proud he was to address them as the 44th President.
I don�t believe any subsequent speaker suggested that Obama was �the devil,� the analysis offered after George W. Bush�s address in the same room in 2006.No, the UN loves Obama because his brand of globalism, pacifism and environmental extremism is the flavor of the moment.
The notion of America fighting a war to keep itself safe and the Middle East stable is kryptonite to today�s garden variety pantywaist world leader. This made Bush a hated figure in the same manner that Obama�s ambivalence toward America�s interests makes him a UN hero.
It was nothing short of nauseating to hear the repeated occasions when President Obama sought to couch American virtue in the time frame of his administration alone. I have often said that the left does not love America as it is or as it has been, but loves it through a forward-looking lens that captures it as the socialist Utopia of their dreams.
Consider the following not-so-veiled insult directed at pre-Obama America:
�I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. Part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others. This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for our collective inaction.
�Like all of you, my responsibility is to act in the interest of my nation and my people, and I will never apologize for defending those interests. But it is my deeply held belief that in the year 2009 � more than at any point in human history � the interests of nations and peoples are shared.�
First of all, if we judge America�s actions by their world popularity, we are dead. This is exactly the dangerous view the President embraces as he moans about the skepticism and distrust that preceded the golden day of his ascendancy.
There are two kinds of people who are going to view America with distrust and skepticism: those with whom we are at war, and those who find that war repugnant.
The war effort has never been �unilateral�-- where was Joe Wilson when you need him?-- and as for ignoring �the interests of others,� I can think of no higher �interest of others� than trying to free other nations from tyranny and terrorism. I would love to know what basic interest the President thinks we have violated among all the nations who hold us in low regard. I mean, other than rattling their gutless sensibilities by showing some spine rather than the flags of surrender they would prefer us to display.
Upon hearing this President talk about �acting in the interest of my nation and my people,� I laugh lest I cry. �I will never apologize for defending those interests,� he proudly proclaims, knowing full well he will apologize all day every day for actions taken by his predecessor to protect this nation, actions which, this President and his UN buddies might notice, actually worked.
The President professed a goal of defeating al Qaeda immediately after the sentence in which he crowed about reversing the things that hurt al Qaeda back in the Dark Ages before he took office:
�On my first day in office, I prohibited � without exception or equivocation � the use of torture by the United States of America. I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed, and we are doing the hard work of forging a framework to combat extremism within the rule of law. Every nation must know: America will live its values, and we will lead by example.�
The crowd cheered, just as terrorists did the world over upon seeing this rampdown of our war effort against them. He can talk �values� all day, but when his value system is more worried about aggressive detainee interrogation than about American safety, those are some screwed-up values.
My values place a priority on things that will stifle terrorism by extracting intelligence from its detained practitioners. Under Obama, this is no longer an American value.
He talked about how he is �responsibly� ending the war in Iraq. Once again, our definitions differ. I�m a fan of ending a war after its mission succeeds, not to appease the anxious calendars of a President�s anti-war base. It has always been hard to define victory in Iraq-- I�ve defined it as arriving at a point where a stable, free Iraq enjoys safety and elects its own leaders. We cannot do that for them. We have to reach a stage that shows Iraqis are ready to stand up for themselves and fight for that kind of safety and security.
There has been progress, but we are not there yet. Neighboring Afghanistan also poses new challenges. This is no time for America to cut and run, but again, those are just my silly values kicking in again.
The President speaks wistfully of �a world without nuclear weapons.� That is like waxing poetic about a city without guns. Let�s have the police disarm and then hope that the bad guys do, too. Sound ridiculous? Of course it does, for a city or for the world. American nuclear weapons exist to thwart nations who would tyrannize others. But I guess that�s my pesky pre-1/20/09 thinking rearing its head.
Finally, the President sprinkled frequent references to what all nations of the world share. �A common future?� Well, I guess that�s self-evident. But beyond that, before we can get misty about what all peoples of the world share, we must confront what we do not share.
We are at war with people who do not share our regard for liberty and democracy. They do not even share our basic human decency. Until we recognize and defeat the portions of the world who want to kill us, rosy platitudes about what we all share are of little meaning.
Sadly, this President does not recognize evil and is not willing or fit to fight it. No one who views climate change as a greater hazard than terrorism can be trusted with the fate of America.
But in Barack Obama�s world, the United States of America is just another country, nestled between the United Republic of Tanzania and Uruguay on the UN lobby directory. Much is said about American exceptionalism, the concept that our nation is not simply virtuous but unique in its history, society and values.
But we have elected a President who not only shuns the concept of American exceptionalism, but makes clear with his incessant apologies and criticisms that America is a flawed land redeemable only by His greatness.
The UN audience predictably ate it up. How could they not? An American President who will no longer call on the world to join in a terror fight, no longer stoke neuroses with annoying references to American virtue, no longer irritate tyrants with our nuclear arsenal, no longer restrain them from global warming fearmongering. They left charmed and satisfied, because the act they had come to see played all the hits they had come to hear.
posted by Mark Davis, WBAP on 9/24/2009 9:34:58 AM
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Well written as always, Mark Davis.
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