I think it’s nice that Republican leaders are standing behind Pres. Obama as he deals with Egypt. It shows some statesmanship among Republican leaders that we haven’t seen among Democrat leaders when a Republican has been in the White House.
But in my little blogging role, I’m going to feel free to level some criticism here that I feel is well-deserved. I agree with former UN Ambassador John Bolton who said in an interview Friday on the Mark Levin show that Obama is in over his head on this. His lack of good judgment on these things makes me nervous. And, to add to the problems, I feel that Obama’s Friday statement on Egypt was full of double-talk. Let me explain.
Let’s take some quotes from his statement:
“The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere.”
No, Pres. Obama, you forgot what you have said about free speech. If they organize themselves as corporations, they don’t have the right of free speech. That’s what you’ve said. And Democrats have told us they don’t think people should be allowed to engage in vitriol or incendiary rhetoric. If these protesters are doing that, then the government should come in and shut that down.
“I also call upon the Egyptian government to reverse the actions that they’ve taken to interfere with access to the Internet, to cell phone service and to social networks that do so much to connect people in the 21st century.”
Again, Pres. Obama, you’re promoting a double standard. Your people are asking that we give you a “kill switch” for the Internet, which you could use in times of national emergency. Maybe Pres. Mubarek considers this a national emergency, and thus feels justified in doing this. Isn’t that what your people are arguing?
“Around the world governments have an obligation to respond to their citizens. That’s true here in the United States; that’s true in Asia; it is true in Europe; it is true in Africa; and it’s certainly true in the Arab world, where a new generation of citizens has the right to be heard.”
Again, Mr. President, this is the opposite of what we heard from your party during the health care debate. Protesters were told to shut up, be more civil, and your congressional leaders rammed the legislation through over the strenuous objections of their constituents. And then when the people spoke through the electoral process, your people continued to try to ram through everything you could in the lame duck session, before the new duly elected representatives of the people could take office. So let’s revise the statement – it’s true in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Period after Middle East.
And then I was extremely disappointed over what Obama didn’t say. The critical interest of the United States is that Muslim extremists don’t take over the government. Not one word about that! Yes, as far as we are concerned, and the safety and liberty of the United States, that is the critical issue here. But this is consistent with Obama’s approach to the Muslim world – to pretend that this threat doesn’t exist.
It’s shameful, the little regard he has for the United States’ national interest.
