For a fellow whose political skills the media once played up as impeccable, even inspirational, Barack Obama has proven to be an uncaring, unthinking dolt.Nile Gardiner bemoans how Barack Obama has once again snubbed one of America's most important and loyal allies. And in a particularly sensitive moment too. It's a superb column.
It is hard to think of anything more insulting to the Polish people on the day they mourned the loss not only of their president but much of their political and military leadership, for the president of the United States to be enjoying a round of golf after canceling plans to attend the funeral. It is yet another disgraceful example of crass insensitivity to a close American ally, which has become the hallmark of the Obama administration’s amateurish foreign policy.
Just eight months on from humiliating Warsaw by pulling out of the agreement over Third Site missile defence installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, the White House has insulted the Poles yet again. This is no minor diplomatic faux pas – it is a second full-blown slap in the face for a key US partner, whose soldiers are currently laying their lives on the line alongside their American allies on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Poland, Americans do mourn with you. And we sincerely apologize for the uncaring attitude of our President.
(Hat tip for the Gardiner story to Melissa Hindman.)
