A post by Pat
Meaning he is beyond all that patriotic stuff, a rejection of American exceptionalism.
Bolton speaks about Obama’s motives, failures to date and future dangers.
Motives
- On January 20th last year Barack Obama was not qualified to be President. Today, 13 months later, he is still not qualified
- Obama doesn’t care that much about foreign policy
- Obama doesn’t see the rest of the world as dangerous or threatening.
- Obama has a belief in multilateralism that is unprecedented since the time of Woodrow Wilson
Examples of Failure
- Iran – a continuation of failed Bush policies to negotiate
- Iraq and Afghanistan – emphasis on withdrawal tells enemy to just wait
- Middle East – U.S. is weaker and Israel in more jeopardy
Future Dangers
- New arms control agreements with the Russians and other arms control treaties.
- Continued pursuit of “global governance”
- Government policy run through the U.N.
- Threat of international taxes undermining sovereignty
Video of complete speech. (audio is poor)
Pat – like a Glenn Beck blackboard presentation – an apple to the teacher on this one – THANKS ~ WOOF!
Townhall has much better audio on this version: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4871205/highlight/49648
Thanks for posting the Bolton talk and outlining his main points. It was packed with information we will need to remember going forward. Emotion is fine, but we need the calm and yet scary information Bolton provides. It is a talk which needs to be heard by all
The Counter Revolution has begun!
Love John Bolton. Would follow him anywhere.
That is all.
You can watch this at C-Span at
http://c-span.org/Watch/Media/2010/02/20/HP/R/29841/CPAC+wraps+up+annual+meeting.aspx
you have to move the little time meter thingie to the 2 hour mark.
I’ve thought, and still do, that Palin/Bolton would be the best Presidential ticket in my lifetime. Alas, it may not be a winner but in my ideal world it would be.
Bolton would make an ideal Secretary of State for Palin. Need a more “reassuring” VP for the first woman POTUS. Allen West could be nice, but I fear Urkel has ruined it for any black man for some time to come.
but I fear Urkel has ruined it for any black man for some time to come.
That’s what I thought back when he was elected. I thought it a fine thing that our country had elected its first black president, but I thought it a shame that we as a country didn’t think about electing someone who was wiser from having had governing experience. Obama and his Democratic supporters had made a calculated move (and this is documented). They WANTED someone with no background, and no record to speak of. That way no opposition research could touch him on votes he had made and issues he had supported. He was a blank slate–a mirage, if you will. That was the idea. It goes to show that we are capable of electing an empty suit. Scary. It reminds me of this scene from the movie “The American President”. I liked the movie even though I disagreed with the politics. The “President” in the movie makes a sly joke about presidents being “beloved who can’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight.” That’s liberals for you, thinking that eloquence equals leadership. Nevertheless I thought this scene was a good commentary on the discernment of the electorate: We have trouble telling the real thing from a mirage sometimes.
I liked Bolton’s line about how “negotiation is not a policy. It’s a technique.” How true. That’s a nice answer to the Left who used to chide Bush about “making war on a tactic” (terrorism), except of course they were arguing over the definition of “what ‘is’ is”. This is a much more serious distinction.
At first I thought Bolton’s strong criticism of Obama’s competence and lack of a robust foreign policy was over the line. After all, Republicans used to shame the Democrats about their criticism of how the war was going, saying this only helped the enemy. Here’s the thing, though. I don’t think there was anything Bolton said that our foreign allies and adversaries haven’t already surmised from Obama’s actions. Obama discredited himself before Bolton could do that. So, sad to say, I think Bolton’s remarks are excusable. The one good thing I can point to that Obama has done is he has continued the effort to bring about a stable Afghanistan, but he has also weakened our ability to fight the war. I only hope the military succeeds despite these obstacles. It’s better than the alternative.
Bolton even criticized the Bush Admin. for good measure, and for a good reason. Since Bush’s second term, our government has consigned itself to the idea that Iran will get a nuclear weapon, and we won’t do a thing to stop it. It’s yet another symptom that we believe we can stop fighting the war, and the war will stop, because we are too afraid of the consequences of aggressive action. Bush had one thing right, though he didn’t apply it consistently: Weakness is provocative.
I don’t watch Glenn Beck often, but I think one thing he’s said lately is true: In the near future we’re going to have to make a choice between guns and butter. What I fear is that we’ll choose butter, because we often can’t see the world beyond our own backyard, and plunge ourselves and the rest of the world into darkness.
Bolton holds my highest esteem.
I wonder if he knows or cares?
Thanks Pat.