It's always a bad sign when a US president gets several rounds of heavy applause at the UN General Assembly, as Barack Obama did this morning in New York. Needless to say, the loudest cheers from the gathering of world leaders came when he condemned the actions of a close US ally, Israel, in continuing to build settlements in the West Bank. You can always rely on attacks on the Israelis to generate the biggest roars of approval at any meeting of the United Nations, and Obama dutifully obliged.The Assembly also mightily cheered Obama's boast that the United States no longer condones "torture" (as if it ever did), a blatantly political swipe at the interrogation techniques of the previous government, which most Americans happen to back. The president's decision to rejoin the UN Human Rights Council, a basket case of an organization that includes some of the world's worst tyrannies, was also greeted warmly.
Needless to say, when the president briefly brought up the need for greater international cooperation over Afghanistan, or spoke about the threat posed by al-Qaeda -- or "violent extremists" as he calls them -- there was stony silence.
Overall this was a staggeringly naïve speech by President Obama, with Woodstock-style utterances like "I will not waver in my pursuit of peace" or "the interests of peoples and nations are shared." All that was missing was a conga of hippies dancing through the aisles with a rousing rendition of "Kumbaya".
The big catchphrase of the morning was "new era of engagement", with Obama outlining the four big international pillars of his presidency: ridding the world of nuclear weapons, the pursuit of peace, preserving the planet, and supporting "a global economy that advances opportunity for all people".
There was only brief mention in the president's speech of the Iranian or North Korean nuclear threat, and no attempt to outline what measures would be taken against Tehran and Pyongyang if they continued to defy the UN Security Council.
Obama said not a word about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's continuing threats to wipe Israel off the map, or the aspirations of the Iranian people for free and fair elections.
In fact human rights issues were strikingly downplayed in Obama's address, which is not surprising since it is rarely on the radar screen of this administration. Nor did the words liberty or freedom feature prominently. This was a speech designed to appease opinion in a world body in which full democracies make up only a minority of its members.
Was this though Obama's most naïve speech ever? It is a very strong candidate, but I think there is intense competition for that accolade. The president's speeches in Cairo, Strasbourg and Prague would all vie for that title. Still, his address today will go down in history as one of the weakest major addresses by a US president on foreign policy in a generation, by a leader who seems embarrassed, even ashamed, by the power and greatness of his own country.
This was an exceedingly dull, poor speech that overwhelmingly failed to advance US interests on the world stage, or project American values and principles onto the rest of the globe. As Barack Obama will eventually discover, soft power will only get you so far when you have to confront and defeat brutal enemies that seek America's destruction.
| AoS at 0700 CDT: link fixed. |
