The following was written by Nile Gardiner, and appears on the Telegraph UK website:
As expected, Barack Obama’s 70 minute State of the Union address focused heavily on the economy and the domestic political agenda. This was hardly surprising in the aftermath of last week’s catastrophic defeat for his party in the Massachusetts special Senate election, where the Republicans scored an historic victory. American voters are turning strongly against the president’s health care reform package as well as his big government vision for the economy, which has contributed to spiraling public debt and mounting unemployment, now standing at over 10 percent.
But the scant attention paid in the State of the Union speech to US leadership was pitiful and frankly rather pathetic. The war in Afghanistan, which will soon involve a hundred thousand American troops, merited barely a paragraph. There was no mention of victory over the enemy, just a reiteration of the president’s pledge to begin a withdrawal in July 2011. Needless to say there was nothing in the speech about the importance of international alliances, and no recognition whatsoever of the sacrifices made by Great Britain and other NATO allies alongside the United States on the battlefields of Afghanistan. For Barack Obama the Special Relationship means nothing, and tonight’s address further confirmed this.
Significantly, the global war against al-Qaeda was hardly mentioned, and there were no measures outlined to enhance US security at a time of mounting threats from Islamist terrorists. Terrorism is a top issue for American voters, but President Obama displayed what can only be described as a stunning indifference towards the defence of the homeland.
The Iranian nuclear threat, likely to be the biggest foreign policy issue of 2010, was given just two lines in the speech, with a half-hearted warning of “growing consequences” for Tehran, with no details given at all. There were no words of support for Iranian protesters who have been murdered, tortured and beaten in large numbers by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s thuggish security forces, and no sign at all that the president cared about their plight. Nor was there any condemnation of the brutality of the Iranian regime, as well as its blatant sponsorship of terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As the example of Iran showed, the advance of freedom and liberty across the world in the face of tyranny was not even a footnote in the president’s speech. I cannot think of a US president in modern times who has attached less importance to human rights issues. For the hundreds of millions of people across the world, from Burma to Sudan to Zimbabwe, clamouring to be free of oppression, there was not a shred of hope offered in Barack Obama’s address.
Obama’s world leadership in his first year in office has been weak-kneed and little short of disastrous. He has sacrificed the projection of American power upon the altar of political vanity, with empty speeches and groveling apologies across the world, from Strasbourg to Cairo. He has appeased some of America’s worst enemies, and has extended the hand of friendship to many of the most odious regimes on the face of the earth. Judging by the State of the Union address tonight, we can expect more of the same from an American president who seems determined to lead the world’s greatest power along a path of decline.
(Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political commentator. He appears frequently on American and British television and radio, including Fox News Channel, CNN, BBC, Sky News, and NPR.)
(Source: telegraph.co.uk/)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
12 Responses
…and Barack Obama has a speech he gave in 2002…
…just words, just speeches…
Yes, Mr. Englishman, usually I’m patriotic. I’m a proud American, but now you got me. You are right. The American people elected the most incompetent president in history. All he can do is, give speeches. Well, what was the SOTU already? Just another speech!
It just doesnt matter. Bush brought us to this point and no one; no one, can get us out except Moshiach.
Professor MoshiachNow01:
I hope youre not insinuating that Barry Obama is Moshiach!
…MORE TO THE POINT…Barak Obama JUST realized (after a year in office) that he must address the NEW GREAT DEPRESSION and not just the signature causes that he (erroneously) believes that he had a mandate to persue. Fortunately, the most liberal state in the country, Massachusetts, REMINDED HIM, that there are real people with real problems other than his agenda. Talk is cheap and it won’t work anymore. Just wait until later this year when his POLL NUMBERS reach a historic low. …and Hashem Yerachem when it comes to Eretz Yisroel and any logical steps for his foreign policy.
2, We see you are suffering greatly from Bush Derangment Syndrome so I strongly suggest you take some strong drugs so you could be cured. Seems you forgot that your beloved Obamanation has been messing up this country for a year & has done far WORSE than W or ANY other president has. Its about time he cuts the community agitator garbage because only a handful of idiots such as yourself are still drinking that smelly stuff.
I think most of the country gives him an A+ for lying his face off.
could moshiachnow1 please explain what bush has do do with anything?
If elections were held today – Obama would lose by a lanslide.
Klal Yisroel,
So would have Bush and Clinton. Its a year in let’s give him a chance. The first year was training wheels. He had to learn what’s going on. Hopefully now he gets what needs to be done and will start making the right choices. Just be fair!
He’s an amazing talker. He can talk his way to get elected… but where’s the results????
not only did he not say anything meaningful, but not even TWO MINUTE into his speech he was already kvetching about how he inherited this disaster. in my opinion, if he didnt want this, then he should not have run for president. all he can do is kvetch about how terrible bush was and what he inherited. he doesnt have a straight plan on how to even attempt to help us recover. he says he has created millions of jobs, but they are no where to be seen. its very easy to claim to have created jobs when you include jobs that were not lost in that number 🙂 he forced money on the auto and financial industries, and now wants to penalize the big banks who, by the way, already paid back the money they “borrowed” WITH INTEREST. he wants to disarm the entire world, but iran has no intentions of following suite. (i apologize for the spelling if it is incorrect) what good is it going to do to have most of the world be nuclear-weapon free if there is even one nation that has nuclear weapons?????
on a side note, i found it quite telling that only half of the room applauded and/or stood up most of the time, and the republicans couldnt seem to get out of there fast enough when it was over! and did anyone see the faces of any of the defense people when he started talking about allowing gays to serve in the army?
BEFORE election I said this person was totally incompedent and has no professional leadership qualities except to gather political rallies. He has proven this again. Talk is cheap but he and his party is robbing the american public blind
He has increase public spending 20% and nobody noticed. Normal year on year increase is 3% so now he is going to hold down public spending yea yea.
Can’t waiting until this lying … is kicked out of the office he should have never gotten in the first place. Give America its honour that it is do.Stop bowing to every other country especially his true buddy chavetz. Sick of seeing your pictures a pit bull would look better