Obama Stumbles Again

Barack Obama: you can dress him up, but you can’t take him out. Every time he goes abroad, he embarrasses himself and sells out his country.
In Japan today, Obama gave a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama. He was asked this question, for which he was unaccountably unprepared:

And to President Obama, you are a proponent of a nuclear-free world, and you’ve stated, first of all, you would like to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki while in office. Do you have this desire? And what is your understanding of the historical meaning of the A-bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Do you think that it was the right decision?

To understand how stumbling and ill-prepared Obama’s response was, you really have to watch the video. In the end, the reporter repeats the question, did the U.S. do the right thing in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki? And Obama refuses to answer:

Here’s the key part of the transcript:

… Now, obviously Japan has unique perspective on the issue of nuclear weapons as a consequence of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And that I’m sure helps to motivate the Prime Minister’s deep interest in this issue. I certainly would be honored, it would be meaningful for me to visit those two cities in the future. I don’t have immediate travel plans, but it’s something that would be meaningful to me.
You had one more question, and I’m not sure I remember it. Was it North Korea?
Q Whether or not you believe that the U.S. dropped a nuclear weapon on Hiroshima and Nagasaki — it was right?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: No, there were three sets of questions, right? You asked about North Korea?

How pathetic. In fact, though, it’s probably just as well Obama didn’t say what he really thought. In his speech on nuclear proliferation in Prague, Obama at least suggested that Truman did the wrong thing by bringing World War II to a decisive end:

[A]s the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act.

If Barack Obama can’t stick up for the country he represents when he goes overseas, he should stay home.

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