More Observations on Obama’s Speech

Shortly, Paul will note the most important problems with President Obama’s speech tonight. In the meantime, here are a few secondary observations:

1) Obama proclaimed the existence of an international coalition to combat ISIS:

I can announce that America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat.

And again:

And in each of these four parts of our strategy, America will be joined by a broad coalition of partners.

But what countries are members of this “broad coalition”? Rather weirdly, he didn’t mention any of them, other than–of course–Iraq and those elusive Syrian moderates. This stands in stark contrast to George W. Bush’s assembly of a genuine, broad coalition of identifiable countries who participated in the defeat of Saddam Hussein and creation of an Iraqi democracy.

2) I suspect this tribute to the “religion of peace” grated on others as much as it did on me:

Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not “Islamic.” No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim.

Actually, the Koran does condone the killing of innocents, if they are infidels, and Mohammed was an early adopter of that strategy. As to whether ISIS is Islamic, see “Is ISIS Islamic?”.

3) Obama’s peroration was also bizarre:

It is America that has rallied the world against Russian aggression, and in support of the Ukrainian peoples’ right to determine their own destiny.

By this time, Obama must have been hoping that no one was still paying attention. His administration, to put it mildly, has done no such thing, and Ukraine, at best, has been partitioned.

It is America that helped remove and destroy Syria’s declared chemical weapons so they cannot pose a threat to the Syrian people – or the world – again.

You might think this delusional, if you didn’t listen closely enough: Obama limited his claim to Syria’s “declared chemical weapons.” Within the last 24 hours, it has been reported that Syria used chlorine gas against civilians on numerous occasions in April. While it is still under investigation, it appears that Assad also gassed civilians last month. But–here’s the catch–Syria never “declared” its stockpiles of chlorine. Way to go, Barry! The most weaselly weasel would be proud of that one.

Finally:

And it is America that is helping Muslim communities around the world not just in the fight against terrorism, but in the fight for opportunity, tolerance, and a more hopeful future.

Actually, there was a time when that was true. When George W. Bush was president, whether you agree with the policy or not, the U.S. did help Muslim communities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, in “the fight for opportunity, tolerance, and a more hopeful future.” That fight was more or less abandoned the day Obama took office and started sucking up to the Muslim Brotherhood.

So Obama’s trademark dishonesty was on display tonight. In a few minutes, Paul will have more substantial observations about the fundamental flaws in the strategy that the president outlined in his speech.

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