Much More Needs To Be Done

http://www.foreignpolicyi.org/content/obamas-sotu-statement-human-rights-was-start-much-more-needs-be-done

For far too much of his first two years in office, President Obama has been on the side of the thugs and jailers — Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hu Jintao, Vladimir Putin, and Hosni Mubarak to name just a few. It is time for him to place the moral weight of his office fully behind those fighting for their freedom.

Pres. George W. Bush came to realize the importance of such a strategy after the events of September 11, 2001. Unfortunately, the current administration has seemed more interested in not being the Bush administration than in doing what is right.

Just like any other, the Bush administration stumbled along the way, but there was never any question about how committed the man at the top was to his agenda. That is what has been lacking from this president, so his comments last night and in other fora recently are encouraging.

Going forward, he would do well to read President Bush’s second inaugural address and reaffirm its core message: “We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in the world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. . . . So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

This is a message for the ages, a message that should strike fear in the heart of every dictator and repressive ruler. It is the message that Hu Jintao, Mubarak, Khamenei, and others need to hear. It is also the message that young Egyptians, imprisoned dissidents such as Liu Xiaobo, and all others risking everything to obtain their fundamental rights need to hear this president repeat on a regular and sustained basis.
.

Quantcast