Monday, February 18, 2019

Joe Biden Embarrasses Himself and Embarrasses America


In principle, Americans do not speak ill of their country on foreign soil. It’s a venerable principle, respected by all American citizens, but especially by political figures. Not speaking ill about the country means not denouncing the president of the United States.

When foreign leaders see that the nation is divided they understand that they do not need to do business with the current president, especially if his policies are not to their liking. Thus, former Vice President Joe Biden embarrassed himself and embarrassed his country at an international conference in Munich this week. He acted as though the current president was not legitimate. He propped up the weak sisters of Western Europe who crave appeasement toward Iran. And he told them not to deal with President Trump… a man who he disingenuously called an embarrassment.

Biden said:

"The America I see values basic human decency, not snatching children from their parents or turning our back on refugees at our border. Americans know that’s not right,” the former vice president and potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate told the Munich Security Conference. "The American people understand plainly that this makes us an embarrassment. The American people know, overwhelmingly, that it is not right. That it is not who we are."

So, human decency means open borders. He was talking to Angela Merkel, a woman who has basically destroyed her country by allowing in too many unassimilable refugees. How you can mistake security for open borders is beyond me? Other countries, like Israel, have walls and enforce their borders. Does Biden think they are indecent? Is that why the Obama administration propped up Israel's mortal enemy, Iran, and refused to take Israel's side at the United Nations. 

As for embarrassing the country, remember the time when John Kerry, Obama’s Secretary of State went to Paris after Islamists attacked a satirical newspaper and a kosher supermarket, murdering more than a dozen people. Kerry brought a singer named James Taylor with him. He had Taylor sing a song called “You’ve got a friend,” in English, of course. And then he offered hugs to the French president and the American people.

If you want to know what it looks like to embarrass your country, look at the Kerry performance in Paris.

Of course, you can also embarrass yourself and your country when you, a senior political leader, travel to a foreign country and act as though the democratically elected president is not legitimate.

It was in part, as the Wall Street Journal wrote, a question of competing visions. But, more importantly, the article noted, Biden was displaying America's divisions on the world stage. Biden was telling the Western Europeans and the world entire to wait out the Trump administration, not to cooperate with its approach to Iranian sanctions, and to continue the good fight against climate change. If you were wondering why the weak sisters of Western Europe have refused to cooperate with Trump… now you have a good reason why.

What did Biden say? The Journal reports:

Mr. Biden called for fighting climate change and upholding international institutions—both topics well received in Europe—and holding dictators accountable, an apparent reference to allegations that the Trump administration ignores human-rights abuses, such as the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey, for the sake of expediency.

His comments implicitly criticized the Trump administration, which withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement aimed at combating climate change; the Iran nuclear deal; and a trade agreement among Pacific Rim countries. The administration also has threatened to pull out of other international agreements.

Obama might have lost the election, but his spirit lives on. It lives on especially in the lies and distortions offered by a Joe Biden. Speaking of human-rights abuses, Iran is leading the world in such horrors. About that, the Obama administration had nothing to say. It sat on its hands during the Green Revolution. It never called out the mullahs for their homophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism.

In fact, the Obama administration financed Iranian dictatorship and Iranian terrorism. About that, Biden had nothing to say. Biden does not want to fight Iran. He does not see Iran as a threat. He is all in, however, for the war against the climate.

Biden was telling the assembled leaders that the Trump administration was an aberration, an offense to the movement of history. He was telling them to ignore American foreign policy and to wait it out. If this does not undermine American policy, I do not know what would:

“This too shall pass. We will be back. We will be back. Don’t have any doubt about that,” Mr. Biden said 

There's something to dread. One thing it isn't is: patriotic.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

As long as we're talking about embarrassing your country, how about the time our POTUS actually bowed down like a butler to the King of Sau'di Arabia. Ever see the full picture of this showing the shocked reactions of every Arab in the room?

That's because it is a blasphemy for one man to bow to another man in Islam. You only bow to Allah when doing your Salat. And then, of course, you do the Full Bow Monty, where you grind your head on the ground. Moreover, I'm pretty sure the Sa'udi family, who catch flak from other Muslims for adopting the "presumptuous"title of "Malik" (king) didn't appreciate this gesture at all

Moreover, I'm going to venture a guess that, prior to Obama, no leader of a the most powerful state on Earth had ever bowed to a less powerful leader .. ever .. in all of human history. But let's not draw any conclusion about Obama being a radical or anythi- … Oh look!! Trump just overfed some goldfish

Not a Robot ... Former Arab linguist and Middle East analyst for SOCOM

UbuMaccabee said...

Crapping on the United States while on foreign soil has been the trade of leftists since the founding. The EU is dead, and an old weakling like Joe Biden cannot save it. The only person weaker than Joe Biden is Paul Ryan.

Sam L. said...

That's old Uncle Joe. Trump, however, plays hardball.

UbuMaccabee said...

Anon, Obama grovelled naturally; it was his nature. He was purely passive in every respect. In give-get situations (even where we held every card), all he ever did was give. He was the weakest man to ever inhabit the office, much weaker than Carter. The only time he showed spleen (not spine) was with domestic enemies, and because he always had 98% of the press on his side, he never had to try--they did his work for him. Foreign entities liked him because he was so weak; he took their interest up on their behalf even before they did. He probably lent Hugo Chavez his personal copy of Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States."

As you are well aware, Islamic traditions and tribal politics and honor codes are strictly defined, and within that world, Obama naturally gravitated toward that of the slave girl, the odalisque of the seraglio. That's how the Arab world read him.

Ares Olympus said...

Patriotic seems to be a two-edges sword. You might define it as lovet for country, or you might define it as love for the current government. If you define as the first, your love enables you to speak against the current government's policies. While in the second you are a traitor for doing so.

But what all should agree on is being patriotic should be about putting country over party. For example, all other things being equal, if you believe in a balanced budget when you're in the opposition, and don't care about deficits when you're in power, you show yourself as a hypocrite, knowing the economy looks better when you let someone else pay for it in the future.

Walt said...

It's the same thing when virtually all the American media, our Papers of Record, speak of the administration with nothing but constant open contempt, when the talking heads catcall "fascist" and "racist," when the Democratic leaders patronize and sneer, when the FBI and DOJ openly plot to use the 25th Amendment on grounds of alleged lunacy, and ex CIA-ers snarl about "treason." They, too, damage and imperil the country. It's not as though Europe--and every other continent--has been unaware of this constant bombardment.

Sam L. said...

"Obama might have lost the election, but his spirit lives on. It lives on especially in the lies and distortions offered by a Joe Biden." You left out THE WHOLE DEMOCRAT PARTY, Stuart. And the media which belongeth unto them.