The President’s Anemic Speech on the State of National Defense
Kim Holmes /
On foreign policy and national defense, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address was anemic.
It brushed over key issues like Iran and terrorism and skipped some important issues, like how best to handle detainees, entirely. There were, in fact, moments when the President’s rhetoric flew in the face of his actions, such as when he praised the very Iranian protestors whom had been ignored in the days after the Iranian election. Another example is that while he sounded supportive of free trade, what he said (e.g., his emphasis on export subsidies that will likely violate WTO rules and his non-reference to ratifying the free-trade agreements with Colombia and others) is actually quite protectionist in nature.
The comments on Afghanistan were perfunctory at best, focusing on bringing U.S. troops home rather than prevailing. There were other times when the President tried to shift blame for things which he had been partly responsible himself, such as in lamenting the loss of national unity since 9/11 — a development in which he had played such a huge role during the campaign when attacking U.S. policy in Iraq.