Last Sunday on “Meet the Press,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice was questioned on the wisdom of President Obama’s failed effort to secure the 2016 Olympics for the city of Chicago. Ambassador Rice replied that “It’s never a mistake for the President of the United States to be willing to fight and compete on behalf of our country. And that’s what he did, and he would do it again in a nanosecond.”
The ironies of this statement are many; here are just two.
First, the fact that our United Nations ambassador confuses campaigning for the Olympic Games as “fighting” and “competing” for our country is, of course, nonsense. Convincing the IOC to accept a bid to host is not much different than competing in a beauty pageant. Confusing such a campaign with advocating for American interests is indeed baffling.
Second, and far more important, is that Ambassador Rice fails to see that President Obama’s track record as President is anything but fighting for America, it’s interests, or the interests of its allies. The examples are many, but a few of the lowlights will suffice.
Obama announced in September that he would not continue the planned development and deployment of the missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic (two former Soviet satellite nations who have, in recent years, become staunch allies of the United States). Obama’s motivation for this decision was an attempt to gain favor with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Of course, Prime Minister Putin was ecstatic about this decision.
President Obama has recently pushed back his scheduled meeting with the Dalai Lama in an attempt to gain favor from the Chinese government, waiting instead until after his visit to China later this year. These overtures to Russia and China have already proven useless. China has announced that it opposes any new sanctions against Iran, in spite of the discovery of new nuclear capabilities. President Chavez of Venezuela has bragged recently of new technology-sharing with Russia concerning nuclear and missile know-how. Any expectation of support against Iran and against preventing proliferation of weapons in our own hemisphere is, of course, naïve.
In Afghanistan, in spite of his campaign rhetoric ensuring that this was the “good” war and assurances that he would take the necessary steps to ensure success, the President’s inability to take the decisive steps that the military commanders on the ground have requested has shown a timid inability to command.
In every major foreign policy speech delivered at home or abroad, rather than defend America’s interests and her noble past accomplishments, President Obama has instead used each occasion to criticize our history, while diminishing our standing in the world.
The failure to fight for America is not, of course, limited to foreign policy mistakes. Obama’s domestic policies, including but not limited to: his support of a cap and trade plan; the government takeover of major banking and automotive corporations; and his unwillingness to prevent the expiration of tax cuts which would ensure a pro growth environment for small businesses, will all do great harm to American economic interests.
To date, President Obama has failed to exhibit any knowledge of how to fight for America’s interests. He and his Administration’s confusion that campaigning for the hosting of the Olympics equals fighting for America would be comical if not so tragic.
