With Moammar Gadhafi no longer holding a seat at the UN General Assembly, one may have briefly hoped rambling, irrational speeches would have fallen out of fashion. Then President Obama got up and spoke.
Clocking in at just under 50 minutes, the president started with his usual self-congratulatory tone, launching into a rundown of how great his assorted wars are going and again went on record promising the Iraq War would be over in December. A promise made to be broken, and it won’t be the first time.
Segueing from America’s assorted military conquests (which again, he assured, were going swimmingly), Obama decided to tackle the Arab Spring, praising it unequivocally, and proudly declaring that “more individuals are claiming their universal right to live in freedom and dignity.” Oh, sure, he praised Bahrain for crushing its protests with the help of Saudi troops then offering largely illusory “reforms,” but the soundbite is always what people remember.
And it was his celebration of people wanting to live in “freedom and dignity” that ran afoul of the whole reason for the speech, which was insisting that the Palestinians cannot be allowed independence and must remain under Israeli occupation until Israel says otherwise.
Only last year, at the same UN General Assembly, Obama was predicting that the peace talks between Israel and Palestinian Authority officials, which everyone knew would collapse four days after his speech when Israel ended their settlement freeze, would mean that this year the UN would be voting to welcome an independent Palestine as a member nation.
The talks didn’t happen, but the UN vote still is, and most of the world is still on board with 2010-Obama’s vision of an independent Palestine. Except for 2011-Obama, who has promised to veto it.
The “why” of this, at least from the speech perspective, was some multi-paragraph ramble about the burden of the Jewish people and the memories of the Holocaust, and something to do with Iran’s nuclear program. Not only did this convince no one, but it left many, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with their faces buried in their palms shaking their heads.
The real, ever-unspoken reason, is political. Former President Bill Clinton blamed a recent Democratic loss in the House on Obama not being a sufficient shill for Israel internationally, and possible opponents in the 2012 Presidential Election are already focusing their foreign policy campaigns on really sticking it to the Palestinians. This has convinced the president that the road to a second term is paved with hypocrisy. How lucky for him he has no shortage of that?
It was always going to come to this, a "black President" of the USA has been so corrupted that he is now openly advocating social injustice. What a complete shame, he will go down in history as the liar and hypocrite he is. What a complete letdown, what a weak man, now all we black people are responsible by proxy.
The best case scenario out of this whole situation is that all parties agree to talks six months to a year from now. The worst case scenario is more wars for israel. This is a key moment in history. Things will never be the same after this. After friday, peace in the region will be officially impossible. This will start major uprisings in palestine and will only add to the organic uprisings going on all over the American satellites. There is a conclusion to this whole 60 year occupation, and it ends this friday. We are seeing the final act of this whole thing play out before our eyes. And to think all it took for peace to be reality was for there to be a real republic in the USA. Not a puppet regime of israel.
Maybe "wars for Isreal"but in reality these WARS will be fought for and be paid for by the Americans.
Disgusting – my last reason to hope for something out of Obama is gone. Reminds me of how Monica served Clinton; Obama has now served AIPAC. You can get off your knees, now Barrack.
Obama has been a dead loss from his first day as President and there is only worse to come
For Obama to give such a speach is more than politics, Isreal has must have something that they threatened Obama with to have him give such a speach. Just watch his wife's face, who was in attendence, and you will see the fear.
Jason Ditz nails it. Good post.
Former President Bill Clinton blamed a recent Democratic loss in the House on Obama not being a sufficient shill for Israel internationally
Ah the litmus test which all prospective Presidential candidates must pass:
Do you kiss enough Jewish / Israeli ass?
Only as long as voters keep voting that way. A change in attitude by voters to switch to always voting against traitors who put Israeli interests above American interests would end this very quickly.
In 2008, 98% of voters voted for candidates that support this policy. I doubt that 98% of the people support putting a foreign nation's interests above our own.
Vote differently in 2012.
It's not that voters are voting for the pro-Israel lobby, it's that the candidates who openly embrace Israel's positions are then richly rewarded in campaign contributions and are considered foreign policy realists – for supporting warmongery and instability at that. And then of course the citizens of this great land vote for the guy they saw the most on TV.
Amen.
I hope American voters are taking notes of their Isreali President.
And all the other traitors running for office in the USA
I guess they got rid of that annoying censor software that would blot out 'ass' – even if it was in another word, like 'passive'….
Ron Paul is the only exception to this rule (that I'm aware of) and he recently stated that he'd bring Dennis Kucinich into his cabinet if elected!
Do you kiss enough Jewish / Israeli a–?
The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
He who has the gold makes the rules. Thats the golden rule!
(Edited for profanity)
Just wait until the US veto triggers riots in the Arab world. It's gonna get ugly.
Here's hoping.
Somethings got to give before the Isreali cabinet sits in the White House making decisions that affect us all.
So true. Our government is a global purveyor of injustice. We've become tools of the Zionists and the militarists.
Someone needs to tell Obama that you can't have a two-state solution without two states. Seems a prerequisite to me.
So there has to be a separate Palestinian state, or there will have to be a single Israeli/Palestinian state with equal rights and representation for all (it's the 'all' that's the problem). But you can't have it neither way nor both ways. It's time to pick one or the other and get on with world peace.
What a disgusting whore Obama has turned out to be!
old one. how can you tell when obama is telling lies? His mouth is open.
I have to agree with Obama on this one.
There are already a couple dozen sand nigger nations in the Middle East, and another one in Europe called “Kosovo.”
The world has no more room for these Allah-worshipping camel jockeys!
Its hard to know if you are really stupid or just plain ignorant.
It's satire (or if it isn't, I'm glad someone lifted the mask.) A reminder of how it isn't incidental that racists are pro-war. That's how many people think. I meet these people at events where the libertarian antiwar movement meets the right.
It doesn't matter if presented with the facts of US foreign policy. If the original premise is that Arabs aren't people, the war is an easy and collective sell.
racist
The comment was reported. I have chosen not to delete it. Other moderators may.
(D) is for Liar
(R) is for Evangelical ignoramus
"To be fair there are few military tryants who would hesitate to crow about their triumphs from the dunghill of their military accomplishments." – Alan Wykes, on Adolf Hitler waxing eloquent about the accomplishments of the Liebstandarte SS in Poland.
Obama joins a long list.
At least the Palestinians are resisting their oppressors and can't say the same about the Americans.
EVERY member of AIPAC is a TRAITOR to America – ALL should be expelled to Israel.
All too many members of Congress are TRAITORS to America – they should be expelled to Israel.
The American people need to revolt against its Zionist controlled Government of TRAITORS.
How long before Israel builds ovens in Gaza and in the West Bank?
Barack Hussein Obama is a LIAR, a hypocrite, an Anti-America, Anti-Christian – who like all Presidents after JFK – is under the control of Israel.
And did the Israeli Mossad have something to do with the death of JFK? – most likely.
And it is most likely that the Israeli Mossad had a lot to do with the 9/11 attack on America. Its agents sure cheered as they filmed the attack from Jersey City – and how did they know to show up that day and time?
Benjamin Netanyahu is beginning to make Hitler look like a boy scout – the Zionists who control Israel are all Communist war criminals.
God's people and the master race? – yeah sure – how about sons of Satan.
I'm with you! JFK was going to put a stop to Israel's Nukes so he was assassinated. Did Mossad have a deal with LBJ to do it? When Israel ATTACKED the USS Liberty killing 34 and wounding 174 LBJ looked the other way and covered up the Attack. Remember the USS Liberty!!!
This US kowtowing to Zionists for votes has been going on for over 60 years. Reading about it in a book called The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire by Peter Clarke.
american president is mad and away from realities. The only sufferer in the region ate palestinians since the creation of Israel, the west solved their problem not to have jews but middle east had to bear them as the americans fight for Israel.
Once again the US puts Israel in the driver's seat and then wishes that somehow this road will lead to 'Peace'. Wake up and smell the war!
As always, the corporate rich will hand-pick and campaign fund both candidates for president, with the winner being the one media portrays as the most intelligent. What with our voting majority being the 51% most aggressive and wealthy, and their highest priority being to pick a president best able to protect their excessive wealth.
Shane Jackson: “The world has no more room for these Allah-worshipping camel jockeys!”
Which raises the question, is atheism a fiction religion with a fake morality?
For an atheist is one who preaches blind faith in their being no God so intelligent he could hide from us, and that because there is no true morality — we need to except everyone as they are even though they so love to enrich themselves upon our misery. What Zionism is in actuality.
Netanyahu means sincerely Negotiation. Yes,, he means that he holds a gun on the head of
Mahmoud Abbas and points the finger on the document where the words "Sign Here" appear. BTW, the gun is Made in USA.