Royally Reprehensible- an Arrogance that Knows No Bounds
With a self-esteem that reaches into the stratosphere, and an ego that is gargantuan in scope, President Barack Obama continues to portray the south end of a northbound horse, for the entire world to see and on which to marvel. It wasn’t enough that “His Royal Arrogance” visited Cuba, landing in Havana with no one to greet him upon his arrival. It wasn’t enough, that he attended a baseball game with Raul Castro, while Brussels was reeling from a terrorist attack that took place in the hours prior to his attendance. It wasn’t enough that he danced the tango in his visit to Argentina while the world waited for his response, to the Brussels attack, that never came.
No, playing the part of a horse’s patoot can never grow stale for a man who doesn’t realize that he’s doing just that.
First, he flies away to Saudi Arabia for an official visit, and is met at the Riyadh airport by…no one. Not that the Saudis are known for hospitality to outsiders, but it became clear that the country’s ruling family was quite put out with a president who, in striking an asininely foolish and imbecilic “deal” with Iran on their pursuit of nuclear armaments, genuinely feels that Obama has sold them down the river. No wonder. In consummating this deal, Obama tilted the balance of power in the Middle East away from our allies of varying degrees, and towards an enemy bent on achieving hegemony in that troubled region. While it is becoming ever clearer, as contained in a yet-to-be-released twenty-eight page document, that members of the ruling family financially aided and abetted the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Obama then staked out a position that family members of the 9/11 victims would not be able to sue the Saudis for damages. Yet, even Obama’s willingness, to provide the Saudis with legal immunity for the attack, failed to impress a regime which takes Obama for the weak-minded pretender that he is.
Fast forward to the United Kingdom, where the Obamas first lunched with Queen Elizabeth, in honor of her recent ninetieth birthday, and then on to meetings with her Prime Minister, David Cameron, to discuss a host of issues. Cameron, caught up in a domestic political storm regarding the upcoming June referendum on the UK’s continued membership in the European Union, has enough troubles of his own in trying to prevent Britain from voting to reject continued membership. Into the maelstrom enters Obama, who would deign to assert his own self into an issue that is Britain’s alone to decide. Were it not bad enough that he would have the nerve to do this, he even parlayed a diplomatic threat to the UK, indicating that if that sovereign nation went against his own wishes, by opting to leave the EU, they would duly face the punishment of having trade agreements between the two countries, shoved to the back burner of priorities for having done so.
In other words, Obama effectively told our closest ally, “I will punish you if you go against my wishes,” or words to that effect. This faux pas was so egregious that even Cameron, who himself is opposed to Britain exiting the EU, had to remind Obama that this is a decision for British voters, alone, and that he and his country do not answer to the President of the United States. That a sitting U.S president has to be reminded, that even his own offices have limits on its authority in the international arena, strikes incredulity were it not so true. Yet such is the arrogance that is Barack Obama, who has come to believe that he alone has all of the answers when it comes to solving, not only the world’s problems, but those within the sovereignty of an ally’s domestic politics, as well.
Talk about being cheeky, indeed…
-Drew Nickell, 23 April 2016
© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.