Abe, there also isn’t apparently any aggression or any aggressors. What about rogue states threatening nuclear development—specifically the Iranian regime, which also speaks fondly of eradicating the Jewish state? We get this embarrassing pabulum:

In their actions to date, the governments of North Korea and Iran threaten to take us down this dangerous slope. We respect their rights as members of the community of nations. I’ve said before and I will repeat, I am committed to diplomacy that opens a path to greater prosperity and more secure peace for both nations if they live up to their obligations.

But if the governments of Iran and North Korea choose to ignore international standards; if they put the pursuit of nuclear weapons ahead of regional stability and the security and opportunity of their own people; if they are oblivious to the dangers of escalating nuclear arms races in both East Asia and the Middle East — then they must be held accountable. The world must stand together to demonstrate that international law is not an empty promise, and that treaties will be enforced. We must insist that the future does not belong to fear.

By the way, when you are held “accountable,” is that sort of an international traffic ticket—you pay a fine and go on your way? He didn’t actually say they weren’t to be allowed to succeed. Think they noticed in Tehran and Pyongyang? Yeah, I do too.

Now, in his four pillars of foreign policy, what was missing? Why, human rights and democracy, of course.

A speechwriter must have noticed because, at the end, Obama threw in a perfunctory mention that America will stand with “those who stand up for their dignity and their rights” (the caveat apparently being that Iran, Cuba, North Korea, China, Russia, and Venezuela are not among the places where anyone is standing up). But then he veers back to safe ground—moral relativism: “Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside. Each society must search for its own path, and no path is perfect.” Better throw in a nice sentence or two—not in the four-pillar section, mind you, but right before the conclusion: “There are basic principles that are universal; there are certain truths which are self-evident—and the United States of America will never waver in our efforts to stand up for the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny.” Well, except if you’re the Dalai Lama and there’s a visit from the Chinese president coming up, or you’re an Iranian democracy protester hoping the U.S. might help, even rhetorically, to upend the Iranian regime.

The president keeps telling us he isn’t naive (funny how Ronald Reagan and even Bill Clinton didn’t have to keep compulsively telling us that). Well, maybe he’s just incredibly cynical. Or uninterested in facing the real dangers to America and its allies. In his view, they simply don’t exist.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 2:32 PM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.