President Obama continues to inject change into the US Policy that has guided the country for past half-century. Indeed change is coming not only to America but to the world.
President Barack Obama spoke to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, September 23, 2009, and set forth what iVoteAmerica believes will actually become Obama’s foreign policy mission during his presidency as he leverages his international popularity. He called his policy “Four Pillars.”
Obama a “Son of Africa” – Muamar Kahdafi
Although he is most likely a certifiable nut-case, Muammar Gaddafi, the eccentric, tent-building Libyan dictator referred to President Obama in his UN speech as a “Son of Africa.” Although nutty, Gaddafi’s reference yields insight into how the international community views our President.
Obama is an internationalist. He realized that during the campaign when he spoke to adoring fans in Germany and he has been leveraging it ever since. The question for all Americans to ask and answer is whether our President is dedicated to internationalism or nationalism as his compass point.
While other conservative commentators and bloggers are referring to Obama’s UN speech as a continuation of his apology tour, we disagree and think the speech was actually quite balanced when gauged by his former hyper-apologetic European speeches of the past.
What iVoteAmerica thinks is revelatory is Obama’s “Four Pillars” and what they could ultimately mean to US foreign policy, the perception of America’s determination abroad and equally compelling about the Presidents international agenda.
Is Barack Obama a “Son of Africa” in the sense of his international aspirations? Is Gaddafi’s characterization not literal but figurative in the minds of international leaders and does it carry with it a set of views that need to be analyzed and understood by Americans? iVoteAmerica believes all of this to be true and that the President’s “Four Pillars” are more important material than his apologies.
Obama’s Four Pillars in an “Acorn” Nutshell
Barack Obama’s stepped up to the podium, called for a “new era of engagement” and then cited the following as his Four Pillars of our “NEW” international policy:
- Non-proliferation and disarmament
- The Promotion of Peace and Security
- The Preservation of Our Planet
- A Global Economy that Advances Opportunity for all People
What do each of these pillars mean and what fundamental values drive each of them? More importantly, what do these words mean when President Obama uses them? Finally, are these pillars “code” for a shift in our national positions of America first to a posture that signals the world that America is ready to compromise its prominence, principles and power?
Pillar One: Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. Under President Obama’s administration there will be a deliberate dismantling of the Reagan era “peace through strength” doctrine. Obama’s signals in this area became clear with the announcement that he would seek to lift the nuclear shield for Eastern Europe that has been the safeguard for freedoms for Poland, as one example.
The UN speech was Obama’s opportunity to internationalize our nuclear policy and to characterize it as in need of dramatic revision while Iran races headlong toward a self-serving nuclear position in the Middle East. On this matter, will the international community view Obama as an appeaser, one who believes in strength through the compromise of principles that have kept America safe?
The following sounds like a reason to not disarm rather than disarm:
“For decades, we averted disaster, even under the shadow of a superpower stand-off. But today, the threat of proliferation is growing in scope and complexity.”
How was it that we “averted disaster” if not by peace through strength?
Pillar Two: The Promotion of Peace and Security. Obama declared that his objective is to create a more peaceful international situation by not just strength but by a belief in human nature.
“For the most powerful weapon in our arsenal is the hope of human beings – the belief that the future belongs to those who build, not destroy; the confidence that conflicts can end, and a new day begin.”
iVoteAmerica disagrees. Since 9/11 the most powerful weapon in our arsenal has been the fundamental adherence to the belief that America is a just nation, the determination of heroes within the CIA and our gallant men and women of the military.
Of course, the President does not tell his audience how human nature will be transformed so that we no longer have disagreements about the importance of other people and nations.
Human nature, unchecked and uncontrolled, is what has led to a ramp-up of nuclear weapons development in both North Korea and Iran coupled with calls for the destruction of Israel and denials of the Jewish holocaust.
Pillar Three: The Preservation of Our Planet. On the point of “climate change” Obama declares emphatically that without it we cannot have the peace he calls for in Pillar #2.
“…we must recognize that in the 21st century, there will be no peace unless we make take responsibility for the preservation of our planet.”
We don’t even know what this statement means but we do know that President Obama does believe that “The danger posed by climate change cannot be denied..” despite the fact that hundreds of eminent scientists have debunked the myth of climate change.
Obama declares that “Our efforts to end conflicts will be eclipsed by wars over refugees and resources” (we have that now) and that “Development will be devastated by drought and famine” (we have that now too) and that “Land that human beings have lived on for millennia will disappear” (again, we don’t have any idea what this means).
iVoteAmerica does believe that the climate change issue, pollution and drinking water are soon to become the next tools of political manipulation. These issues are key ingredients for globalization and the demise of national sovereignty.
Pillar Four: A Global Economy. Obama’s final pillar, is none other than his redistribution of wealth principle trumpeted defiantly in the face of “Joe the Plumber” to the shock of millions of voters.
The President’s statement that we need a “global economy that advances opportunity for all people” serves as a euphemism for the redistribution of the wealth of the west and the implementation of governmental controls that can be derived through the socialization of humanitarian efforts on a global scale.
“Now is the time for all of us to do our part. Growth will not be sustained or shared unless all nations embrace their responsibility. Wealthy nations must open their markets to more goods and extend a hand to those with less, while reforming international institutions to give more nations a greater voice.”
It is clear in the President’s summation that he believes the United Nations is a key vehicle for the execution of his four pillars. He stated, in referring the founders of the UN that “…architects of international cooperation had an idealism that was anything but naïve – it was rooted in the hard-earned lessons of war, and the wisdom that nations could advance their interests by acting together…”
CONCLUSION. iVoteAmerica does not see the speech as a continuation of Obama’s apology monologue but more importantly a glimpse inside the inner sanctum of “change.” Indeed we see shadows of the international meaning behind Muamar Gaddafi’s reference to the President as a “Son of Africa.”
DOWNLOAD PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S SPEECH TO THE UNITED NATIONS. THEN, POST YOUR COMMENTS.
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