Obama Ignoring Longtime Allies
by Warner Todd Huston (6/7/09)
Obama is well into his ongoing adventure I’ll call TWAT (The World Apology Tour). And while he is bowing to Saudi Princes, groveling at the feet of South American communists, and promising radical Islamists that the U.S. wants to be their bestest buddy, all the while telling the world how wrong we are on everything, he also seems to be steadily torking off our allies.
Well, don’t take my word for it. Even The New York Times is saying it. In a June 4 story, the Times worries that, “on a more basic level, there is a sense that the Obama administration is ignoring the needs and counsel of longtime allies.”
Let’s take a look at some of the snubs and missteps that Obama has perpetrated in his short time in office, shall we?
Just this week he’s snubbed the French by refusing to have dinner with President Sarkozy and his wife during his time in France.
Last weekend, Obama ducked out on diplomatic meeting with politicians from the Czech Republic so that he could go on his million dollar “date night” in New York city with wife Michelle.
Then there is the article in The New York Times I quote above that says that German officials are beginning to get a bit miffed with Obama for ignoring them.
Not only that but he’s snubbed our British allies at least four separate times thus far in his five short months in office.
The first snub was immediately after he took office when he summarily and without explanation returned a bust of Churchill generously loaned by the Brits for display in the Oval Office.
The second came when British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the U.S. in March. With little notice, Obama ditched a scheduled joint press conference with the PM as he landed. Then his staffers scolded the Brits by telling them that they weren’t so special and shouldn’t expect any special treatment obviating the long-cultivated “special relationship” that the U.S. has developed with Britain.
The third was during that same visit when the Obamas gave the British PM and his wife some rather thoughtless gifts. After some expensive, culturally significant gifts from PM Brown, the president gave in return a box of DVDs that couldn’t be played on British DVD players and to a man that is losing his eyesight, yet. The president’s wife gave what were essentially a few baubles from the White House gift shop. Neither gift was well thought out or received. The gifts were derided in the British press as a slap in the face to Great Britain.
And just last week Obama stood idly by as D-Day celebrations were planned without inviting the Queen of England.
And these are just some of the miscues and gaffes he’s made with our allies in these few months of his presidency.
Is this the “new America” that we’ve been waiting for?
Warner Todd Huston
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