It’s a testament to President Obama’s own estimation of himself that he released Sunday night a statement on the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda lecturing about “the world’s failure to respond more quickly” and that “we always have a choice . . . we must never be indifferent.”
Because, this couldn’t be happening again, could it? Not under Obama. Obama is a force only for good.
More than 800,000 Rwandans died during the massacres that occurred there in 1994. Bill Clinton, who was president the time, actually traveled to Rwanda to apologize for not doing more. As if you could get your hands clean by “apologizing” for such a thing. But at least he wrestled with his conscience, which for Clinton is saying a lot.
Such soul searching seems beyond Obama.
During Obama’s presidency, some 150,000 people have died in Syria. About a third are estimated to be civilians.
At what point are there enough deaths to qualify as a “genocide”? What’s the difference? Obama has stood by and done nothing useful while the greatest horror of our new century unfolds.
But Obama nevertheless felt entitled to say this:
At this moment of reflection, we also remember that the Rwandan genocide was neither an accident nor unavoidable. It was a deliberate and systematic effort by human beings to destroy other human beings. The horrific events of those 100 days—when friend turned against friend, and neighbor against neighbor—compel us to resist our worst instincts, just as the courage of those who risked their lives to save others reminds us of our obligations to our fellow man.
The genocide we remember today—and the world’s failure to respond more quickly—reminds us that we always have a choice. In the face of hatred, we must remember the humanity we share. In the face of cruelty, we must choose compassion. In the face of intolerance and suffering, we must never be indifferent. Embracing this spirit, as nations and as individuals, is how we can honor all those who were lost two decades ago and build a future worthy of their lives.
There was a time, earlier in the Syrian conflict, when decisive action by this president could have toppled Bashar Assad and installed what would have hopefully been a more moderate regime. It couldn’t, at that time at least, have gotten much worse than the Iran-allied, terrorist-sponsoring Syrian ruler.
But Obama failed to act. He failed even to block, as he promised, Assad from using chemical weapons. And now the place is so infiltrated by al Qaeda and other Islamist extremists that there is no one to assist, and little for America to do.
Ultimately, the people who are committing the killings are responsible, not Obama. But it’s very possible he could have done more to prevent it. And so he is responsible for failing to act to prevent genocide, mass killing, or whatever you want to call it. It’s a permanent stain on his record.
Were Bush and Cheney in charge, I guarantee it, the charges of callous indifference would be lodged on a daily basis. Probably by Obama.
Adding to the nerve of Obama’s statement, you may have noticed, was his assertion that what happened in Rwanda should compel us to “resist our worst instincts.”
Whose worst instincts? Does he think Americans are like Rwandans, and would suddenly butcher 800,000 of our neighbors?
Please, Mr. President, worry about your own instincts. Instincts that are marked by indecision, indecisiveness, weakness, and unreliability. The very instincts in a leader that get people killed.
32 thoughts on “Obama’s Rwanda Hypocrisy”
How terrible. Almost a million Rwandans dead by the hands of other Rwandans. We should send some Dems over there to advise them to all give up their firearms, and then learn to kill their unborn children as they wish all Americans would do.
The world is going to learn that this administration under MrObama’s guidance is not going to help the poor, the abused, the downtrodden or to keep the peace in their own balliwicks. It’s all on them to make life in their country good or bad.
The Obama administration is only concerned with the lives and events inside our borders. They mean to disrupt everything and everyone until we become the unbigoted, unracist, robotic inhabitants of a country no longer the leader of anything, but no richer or better than the meanest third-world hellhole.
IMO, anyway.
I won’t go so far as to say he is even concerned with lives and events inside our borders. Maybe certain lives and certain events. It seems to be OK with him that gays can now take their pitchforks to those who do not believe in gay marriage, and he has no concern for the millions of Americans who have lost work forever while inviting millions of non Americans to enter the country to live off the dole or, if lucky, to work for Chinese gulag wages. (BTW, neither does Jeb Bush.)
Obama blasts indifference, but indifference is the keynote of his presidency. I think that is a deliberate political ploy on his part, but I’ve never known what to call it. Maybe it is projection but usually that is a subconscious act. Still, it all but is projection: “The world is indifferent, but I can’t possibly be because, you see, I’ve just used the word.
It has become obvious that everything Obama says, he does or reacts in an exactly opposite manner.
What a fraud.
Damn WordPress errors !!!!!!!!!!!1
This was in response to Julie, who knows where it will end up.
You made it. Is there a word for what he does? Hypocrisy fits, but I agree with you that it’s deliberate.
I think due to his fundamental lack of a moral compass and self centeredness he is incapable of any congruent thought or direction. His policies and speeches reflect that. I don’t believe he has any idea what he stands for or believes and as a result we see his constant pivoting.
Correct JBH, he is just reading script written for him by someone else. He doesn’t have the capability to speak for himself or from his heart. A total fake and an embarrassment to America.
On that “worse instincts” thing–I have not felt the need to hack anyone’s limbs off. So far so good. I expect this of myself. He is just a predictable gas bag–he’s against genocide except when he calls it something else. Nothing new here.
If he would like to take up a manageable cause–how about helping people who are protecting albinos in Africa, esp children but adults too, from being hacked up for good luck charms. The group is called Xeru Xeru, I think. They post armed guards to protect little toddlers from people’s worst and most ignorant instincts.
Keith,
Thanks for calling him out on this. If I remember right I do believe that dear ol Susan Rice and Samantha Power are also deserving of the Hypocrite Participation Trophy?
But what’s even worse than the politicians and the hacks is the state of our national media today.
You and a few others do what you can, but sadly, it’s those of us that already know the truth behind the curtain that read you and the other few outlets. The rest of the country just opens up for their next portion of pablum spoon fed them by a media so lost in ideology that it couldn’t find a way to the truth if a Vegas casino sign was pointing right to it.
I join you in thanking Keith. For someone who is a lazy writer like myself, I praise him for thinking his post out and taking the time to write it down so carefully.
I just wish Keith would do us all a favor and troubleshoot the maddening moderation vault and the WordPress errors.
“You are typing too fast,…slow down.”
My opinion is that the site can’t take the traffic when we get going on the comment section.
Agree, Julie and Geoff!
Worthless drivel from a worthless nobody. After 20 years of war, mass murders are still occurring in the Congo. Obama & family, however, are careful to avoid hot spots on their annual vacations to visit their ancestors.
There is, however, one difference between Rwanda and Syria. Because of geography, Syria is infinitely more important to the United States and its allies than Rwanda was. This time we didn’t just miss an opportunity for a humanitarian intervention; we missed a major strategic call to action.
America will pay for Obama’s inaction for decades to come!
I agree, Keith, please Mr President worry about your own instincts, and, I would like to add if I may , please keep quite, you hypocrite. Words mean nothing to you.
I know that you Keith, and some of you here, don´t share my opinion of the Syria conflict because I do not want to see Assad toppled and, most likely, replaced by those horrible, murderous, barbaric Islamist rebels. There are hardly any places left in this region where the Christians are not persecuted. To me, Islamism, in it´s fundamental form, is the greatest threat, and I wish that the west, and the east, including Russia, could have cooperated trying to defeat this evil in various ways , instead of engaging in proxy conflicts in, for example now, the Ukraine. Because of the Obama/EU meddling here it now looks as if the country is heading for a civil war.
@m’Lady; there are a lot of us who don’t want to get involved in the Syrian civil war.
While we all regret the loss of life and the disruption of miilions of others, the fight is between two Islamic sects and neither of them would be friendly with the EU or the USA.
The wise course would be to wait it out, then deal with the eventual winner of the conflict.
Agree, Srdem, I also think that we should stay out of Syria. When I wrote “defeat Islamism” , I didn´t mean invading their countries. We have absolutely enough to deal with within our borders. We need to protect our way of life.
As Sarah Palln famously said, “Let Allah sort it out.”
I agree with you on Syria, SL. It’s as we say over here, “the lesser of two evils.” We can’t protect other peoples from dictators (goes back to Stalin, Mao) and should only hit them back if they hit us. Look what happened in Egypt and Libya, Obama’s pitiful attempts to democratize people who have no concept of what that word means.
Agree Julie. Yes, Egypt and Libya are certainly in a turmoil. Maybe that was the intention, destabilize. The little peoples humble demand of some kind of order to get through the day, oh, that´s too beneath us to care about. The Egyptian tourist industry was flourishing during Mubarak, now, in shambles, nobody from the west goes there, terror attacks now and then.
Obama’s hypocrisy:
“At this moment of reflection, we also remember that the genocide of the unborn is neither an accident nor unavoidable. It is a deliberate and systematic effort by human beings to destroy other human beings.”
Exactly.
Absolutely hypocritical and clueless. He doesn’t know what he’s saying, it’s just words put together by someone else.
Maddening isn’t it ?
He either thinks we are all stupid ignorant cattle, or he thinks he is the most intelligent man in the world.
Our job is to prove him wrong on both counts.
He thinks we’re all stupid…
And he doesn’t care what we think.
Here’s a headline template”
Obama’s_____(fill in the blank)_________ Hypocrisy
I like it. It’s just hard not to add profanity to the blanks.
Obama is only HALF “African”…
(and a rather biased half at that; the ‘Kenyans’ always thought themselves better than everyone [black] in Africa)
Why would he care anything about “Africa”…?
200,000 at least .But who’s counting .
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Would be nice if he could find the spine to accept responsibility right here at home first.
“At this moment of reflection, we also remember that Benghazi (or Fort Hood) was neither an accident nor unavoidable. It was a deliberate and systematic effort by human beings to destroy other human beings. The horrific events of that night compel us to resist our worst instincts, just as the courage of those who risked their lives to save others reminds us of our obligations to our fellow man.
The murders we remember today—and the failure to respond more quickly—reminds us that we always have a choice. In the face of hatred, we must remember the humanity we share. In the face of cruelty, we must choose compassion. In the face of intolerance and suffering, we must never be indifferent. Embracing this spirit, as nations and as individuals, is how we can honor all those who were lost almost two years ago and build a future worthy of their lives.”
Where is that oh-so-caring obama on the Armenian Genocide that he PROMISED to recognize as soon as he was elected?
This hypocrite is just disgusting.
My grandmother was Armenian Genocide survivor, witnessed her entire original family massacred with her own eyes before fleeing. I sill remember how she spent long nights crying and I was too young to understand why.
Now this creep tries to clean up his fellow democrat’s inaction and insensitivity about Rwanda, while he ignores the Genocide that started them all.
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