Obama's World Apology Tour

Agreed Dale, on all counts. I thought freeing the Iranian “diplomats” captured in Iraq in 2007 was a mistake unless he has a quid pro quo from the mullahs. I think they have been behind the uptick in bombings in Iraq as a way of attempting to warn Obama from taking advantage of the meltdown underway in Iran.

You do have to give credit where it is due and President Obama handled himself well in Russia.

But I’m not sure anyone noticed as the mainstream media heckled Governor Palin relentlessly.

I know Obama never misses an opportunity to complain about his predecessor, but I confess I’m not sure what specific events the cartoon is referencing.

If the truth about American foreign relations and policies is oftentimes a story of imperialism, power politics, superpower abuses, elitist self-interest, geopolitical gain at the expense of human rights, and service to something other than the universal common good- then I would expect that any American from the top-down should be willing to acknowledge those instances in history, or those ongoing abuses- if they are someone of solid character and good will. Zealotry and “my country right or wrong” nationalism is not the stuff of Catholicism to be sure. It is interesting that whenever someone goes public with criticism of American foreign policies, wars, coups etc.. they are labeled as blame America First anti-patriots, just like Jewish voices who are critical of Israeli policies and wars are labeled as self-loathing Jews- they usually are not called liars, interestingly. Of course the Christian ideal of taking the plank out of one’s own eye first is conveniently placed to the side.

The truth is not always a happy one, and to mock those who acknowledge or apologize for past private or social sins that have harmed and killed people is simply not something I will stand on the side of the road for. One can claim ignorance of these sins I suppose, but for the well-read and the well-travelled, it just isn’t an option. It is hardly an excuse to point out the greater sins of other people, other nations- that is something I encounter all the time with teenagers- but it is totally unacceptable in adult religious community.

I would love to see Obama apologize for every abortion ever sanctioned or encouraged in this country and every country where it was promoted by American governmental or organizational operatives. President Bush should have gone to some of those Third World countries and apologized for the past and present American promoters of abortion as a right to kill the innocent and “save” the planet. And I want to see all the crimes against humanity and international law, and the universal common good committed by American “interests” to be brought to the light. Every life harmed or killed as a consequence of my nation’s willful intent to do something self-serving and/or just plain awful or evil- I will take some measure of blame for. I expect any leader of this country to be of a similar character- but I have yet to find such a leader who I could put my full support behind.

As reference books for the various charges to be made against the history of American relations with the rest of the world or those continued in the spirit of the colonizing Europeans through neo-colonial machinations I recommend the following writers: DAvid Fromkin, Tim Weiner, William Blum, Chalmers Johnson, Chris Hedges, Stephen Kinzer, Stephen Schlesinger, Robert Dreyfuss, Said Aburish, Edward Said, Greg Grandin, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, John Perkins, Ron Paul, and Pat Buchanan are some of the authors I can see as I look at my book cases. Other books on the Rwanda genocide and Clinton/Congress passivity, and the cases of Mobutu and Lumumba are books that I don’t have in front of me but linger in my thoughts.

I expect some or many may be tempted to throw out some personal attack or some obscure quote or misquote from one or more of the authors here listed- it is so easy to hide behind name-calling like “leftist” “liberal” “populist” and all the rest- but I would include Pope John Paul II’s landmark encyclical “On Social Concern” written in 1987 as an excellent back-drop to this history these international relationships. I am Catholic, I am not beholden to the gods of liberalism or conservatism, I am subject to one God, and He does not seem to fit in the narrow boxes of American political ideologies. I served my country for six years in the National Guard, I believe in a strong, well-defended America, but I am not proud of my own personal sins and I am not proud of America’s collective sins- and I infer from Scripture that we are to some measure judged as nations. I believe that if you have the opportunity to apologize for something you have done personally or by association, you should go for it. To humble oneself is not a sign of weakness but of strength- at least in the Kingdom of God where I am aiming to spend the lionshare of my time someday.

Tim,

I don’t apologize for being a Catholic first and an American second. I love my country and when someone apologizes for the rising of the tides or for Muslims killing Muslims, then I am offended.

President Obama is a charlatan and a foreign policy weakling. If he thinks that apologizing for every “perceived” offense done by the United States will make everything better, then I still believe in the tooth fairy.

Awakaman,

You and I and every other conservative can understand to certain degrees what President Obama is trying to accomplish, but to publicly make it a policy of the United States thinking that the dictators of the world will turn around and become benevolent is short of ignorance and closer to ineptitude.

Tito:

The two statements I put in the com boxes above were made by George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential debates with VP Gore. I don’t believe that GWB circa 2000, or any other conservative denouncing US arrogance around the world, e.g., Ron Paul, believed that being a more humble nation would cause dictators themselves to become more democratic, rather our humility as a country is meant to impress the masses within those countries.

Nothing would inflame Americans more than a foreign government trying to tell our country what to do . . . which is many feel such animosity toward international organizations which try impose jurisdiction on the US and its citizens, such as the UN and International War Crimes Tribunal.

Likewise, nothing is going to cause North Koreans to support Kim Jong-il or Iranians to support Ahmadinejad more than direct foreign intervention into their countries’ affairs. If you want to move Ahmadinejad from a corrupt 70% victory to a 99.9% honest victory then let Israel drop the first bomb and the “green revolutionaries” will all be joining the Iranian Revolutional Guard.

Yes- I do agree that only things that are truly moral wrongs should be apologized for- I was speaking more to the principle that being humble and apologizing from the heart for real wrongs that have actually hurt or killed people- that is something we should encourage our representatives to do. I won’t say that Obama has all his priorities in line- obviously- I would write the same piece if it was Bush or Obama in the presidency.

I think there is also a false-sentiment that can be part of a leader apologizing- Clinton came across a bit like that- you can apologize too much or too easily, like it was nothing- all for show- so it is important to do the right thing for the right reasons- I won’t make a claim either way for obama- I always hope for the best, and my wife and I pray for obama and his wife to have deep pro-life conversions for example.

By the way Tito what did Obama do in Russia that was so great? Continue to give Russia the finger by insisting that it was right and proper that they be surrounded by NATO/US client states? Tell them to back off from intervening in Georgia and the Ukraine when the US’s intervention has been just as eggregious? Is it his insistence that the US has the right to surround Russia with its weapons systems (because of Iran . . . right)?

Again, if Russia or any other country tried to do this in the Americas we’d be screaming to high heaven and threatening to bomb the hell out of them.

Don’t worry with his poll numbers dropping Obama will soon create some external enemy that we must fight and will cause American’s to rally around the flag and their illustrious leader.

This is sick.

I wish Obama had actually apologized for the ills of his country. I wished he would go to Hiroshima, get down on his knees and beg forgiveness for what the US did there in 1945. I wish he would apologize to the Iranians for deposing Mossadeq and imposing the shah in 1953 (more than anything else, this would embolden the resistance). I wish he would apologize for the support for the thuggish regimes in Latin America, most notablty under Reagan, that saw so many Catholics being harassed and killed. I wish he would apologize to the Vietnamese, to the Cambodians, to the Iraqis.

But he will not to any of this, because the swell of nationalism is too strong – it overwhelms our common humanity. Genuine repentence takes courage. John Paul had this kind of courage. Over and over again, he apologized for every ill the Church had committed over the years. He was in no way personally responsible for any of this, but he stood up as the representative of the Church and — in doing so — he bolstered its moral authority. Perhaps you think that John Paul’s “apology shtick” also got old?

If you cared about the moral authority of this country, you would do the same. And to trot out such rubbish as this is “blaming America for every ill” in the world makes as much sense as saying that John Paul blamed the Catholic Church for every ill in the world. As I said, the pope showed courage. But nationalism is the ideology whereby small men hide behind big guns, isn’t it?

Tony, for you it is always blame America first, last and always. Your hatred for this country and its inhabitants knows no bounds. Pointing out flaws in America is one thing; yours is a tiresome, endless venting of your spleen against this country. If I were you I would find another country to live in more suited to your sensibilities. I am sure that Erehwon is accepting immigrants if Utopia has met its quota.

Tony is the blogger now known as Morning’s Minion. He and I have been dueling for years, back to the time when he blogged under the name TonyA.

Ahh — Thanks, Don!

“Typical “hate America” leftist hyperbole.”

Yes, if you can agree that there is such a thing as “typical ‘yay America’ right-wing hyperbole?”

For Tony, just in case his blood pressure is a little low today!

Very fun, Donald, but I prefer the version by the south park guys, even if it does use rather crude language!

If the state of Virginia can apologize to its own citizens for its compulsory sterilization laws, surely the US can apologize for some of the things it has done to other countries over the years.

I fail to understand how an apology from someone that hasn’t hurt me helps.

The Congress resolved to apologize for slavery. OKAAAY… And this helps because?

Isn’t the blood of Americans that died to free their fellow man a tribute for that wrong? If not, why are mere words, spoken by those who did not do the wrong to people long dead, any better?

I don’t think apologizing for the wrongs committed by one’s country is the place of a President… Maybe a Congress, but certainly NOT a President.

Besides, much of what has been posted here is about posturing. This is to say that those who want the US to apologize more speculate that it will advance our foreign policy as much as those of us who believe that such apologizing damages it. Posturing is posturing and it has no more moral authority because it wears the mask of humility.

What about the clearances of the Scottish Highlands??? Can I get something for that? Oh, and the Fenian Raids??? The attempt to annex Canada during the War of 1812 (mind you, there was payback with the burning of the White House, heheh)?