President's foreign policy speech at West Point leaves progressives with plenty to criticize
President Barack Obama arrives to deliver the commencement address to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's Class of 2014, Wednesday, May 28, 2014, in West Point, N.Y. (Photo: AP)In a speech rife with incongruities and contradictions, President Obama set out his vision and defense of U.S. foreign policy on Wednesday at the West Point Military Academy in New York.
In the speech, Obama announced that he believes "in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being" and spoke repeatedly about "American leadership" and "American strength."
Progressives and foreign policy experts on the left, however, were quick to criticize the president's speech from various angles via their Twitter accounts with many noting that for all his grand rhetoric on the nation's special place in the world, the United States under his leadership has done little to inspire and much to undermine such a role. From assaults on human rights and the flouting of international law to serves its own interests, many critics charge, the United States continues to export militarism while undermining efforts to create a more just and peaceful world.
A sampling:
Obama at #westpoint Talks re hardest lesson of Iraq and Afghanistan? How about this one: Don't invade other countries.
— CODEPINK (@codepink) May 28, 2014
Obama: "I'm haunted by those deaths" -- of #wespoint cadets, but not civilian victims of US aggression.
— Sam Husseini (@samhusseini) May 28, 2014
Obama says military will now explain its actions more clearly to the public.#AFRICOM will you answer my many pending questions now? embed?
— Nick Turse (@NickTurse) May 28, 2014
Obama touts US exceptionalism at #westpoint. Exceptionally arrogant, no?
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) May 28, 2014
Obama says we have to lead by example. Torture? Indefinite detention? Drone attacks? #westpoint
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) May 28, 2014
"We must not create more enemies than we take off the battlefield"--then time to take the drones out of Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia. #WestPoint
— Chase Madar (@ChMadar) May 28, 2014
Obama authorized 425 drone strikes, killing over 3,200 people. The size of AQ-affiliated groups has not diminished.
— Micah Zenko (@MicahZenko) May 28, 2014
Obama offers three straw-men of IR (realism, interventionism, isolationism), then a false dichotomy about military force (all or nothing).
— Micah Zenko (@MicahZenko) May 28, 2014
For the complete article, please go here:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/28-2
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