The Magical Misery Tour

Powerline:

What I want to focus on is Obama’s continuing attack on his own country, unprecedented, to my knowledge, for a President on an overseas tour. Here are Obama’s comments on his own country’s history:

“An enduring commitment to the rule of law is the only way to achieve the security that comes from justice for all people. Robust minority rights let societies benefit from the full measure of contributions from all citizens.

I say this as the President of a country that not too long ago made it hard for someone who looks like me to vote.”

This is untrue. A minority of states did “make it hard” for someone who “looks like Obama” to vote until “not long ago,” but most did not, and the federal government certainly did not. There has never been a time when it was hard for people who look like Obama to vote here in Minnesota, for example.

One could also point out that the Southern states that did practice Jim Crow laws were all bastions of the Democratic party.  

Aside from that, has there ever been an American president who made it a point at every stop on his world tour to demean, abase and abuse America?

I think not.

I don’t believe countries are made great by their leaders demeaning them. Reagan described America as a shining city upon a hill. Obama seems to be intent on describing America as a shining oil slick on a cesspool.

That may please Obama’s overseas fans, but it should dismay Americans.

Via Memeorandum

More Blah, Blah, Blah

John Bolton on the Obama administration’s response to North Korea:

Prior to North Korea’s launch yesterday of a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, President Barack Obama declared that such an action would be “provocative.” This public statement was an attempt to reinforce the administration’s private efforts to urge the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) not to fire the missile.

That effort failed, as have countless other attempts to deal softly with Pyongyang. Incredibly, U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth revealed — just a few days before the launch — that he was ready to visit Pyongyang and resume the six-party talks once the “dust from the missiles settles.” It is no wonder the North fired away.

But, fear not. Lessons were learned from the weak Obama response. They were not exactly lesson that are in America’s best interests.

Iran has carefully scrutinized the Obama administration’s every action, and Tehran’s only conclusion can be: It is past time to torque up the pressure on this new crowd in Washington. Not only is Iran’s back now covered by its friends Russia, China and others on the U.N. Security Council, but it sees an American president so ready to bend his knee for public favor in Europe that the mullahs’ wish list for U.S. concessions will grow by the minute.

So, North Korea is now emboldened even more. So are Iran, Russia and China.  The UN will dither away any meaningful sanctions, Obama will negotiate with thugs and the world will be an even less stable place.

Great. Just great.