The Obama Diaries

by Laura Ingraham

  But that was only the beginning. Soon after he was inaugurated, President Obama made so many “sorry” statements about U.S. foreign policy, many of us began to wonder whether Michael Moore had joined his speech-writing staff:

  • April 2, 2009: President Obama, speaking at a press conference in London after the G-20, described the negotiations that led to the Bretton Woods system that stabilized global finance after World War II as “just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy.” He went on to say, “That’s not the world we live in, and it shouldn’t be the world we live in [emphasis added]”—thus clearly indicating that the United States and the United Kingdom should not be trusted with so much power.

  • April 3, 2009: At a town hall in Strasbourg, France, Obama stated, “In America, there’s a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.”

  • April 5, 2009: Speaking to two hundred thousand people in Prague, Czech Republic, Obama said, “As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, we [the United States] have a moral responsibility to act” in limiting nuclear weapons.

  • April 6, 2009: “Our country still struggles with the legacies of slavery and segregation, the past treatment of Native Americans,” he told the Turkish parliament.

  • May 21, 2009: At this point, President Obama’s “apology tour” was coming under severe criticism at home. (I remember this well, because I was one of the chief critics.) But he wasn’t finished. Our actions at the Guantanamo base in Cuba “set back the moral authority that is America’s strongest currency in the world.”

  • July 7, 2009: President Obama traveled to Russia, where he met with President Dmitry Medvedev and former KGB chief and President Vladimir Putin. President Obama later explained to Russian opposition leaders: “I think it’s very important that I come before you with some humility. I think in the past there’s been a tendency for the United States to lecture rather than listen.” A few months earlier, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had famously presented Russian leaders with a button that she thought read “reset” in Russian (as in resetting our relationship with Moscow). Instead, the Russian word stamped on the button meant “overcharge.” If President Bush’s team had found themselves similarly lost in translation, they would still be hearing about it.

  • July 18, 2009: Secretary of State Clinton told India: “We acknowledge now with President Obama that we have made mistakes in the United States, and we along with other developed countries have contributed most significantly to the problem that we face with climate change.”

  • November 13, 2009: Obama spoke in Japan of the importance of multilateral organizations in building security and prosperity throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Referring to himself as America’s “first Pacific president” (Isn’t California on the Pacific? Wasn’t Ronald Reagan governor of California?), President Obama said, “I know that the United States has been disengaged from these organizations in recent years,” but promised to do better if given a chance.

  THE DIARY OF PRESIDENT SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON

  WASHINGTON, D.C.

  January 31, 2009

  Hello, America! It’s 3 a.m. Do you know who’s answering the phone? An overinflated egomaniac who doesn’t know the first thing about foreign policy, that’s who.

  Yesterday, a team of us tried to educate the former senator from Illinois about the dangers we face in the world. He had that same deer-in-the-headlights look I remember so well from the debates—his eyes would glaze over whenever I would point out how his stance on foreign policy was going to weaken America. I thought it was important for him to understand that there are bad people out there who do bad things.

  Of course, I know he won’t listen to me. Bill once told me that no politician ever takes advice from someone he defeated. And he’s probably right.

  So Jim Jones and I summoned some of the “best and the brightest” types from NSA to brief him on the key crisis points. I told them to keep it as simple as possible. They wanted to know whether the kinds of briefings they give me would suffice. Ha! I told them to imagine briefing someone who reaches for his BlackBerry during your introduction and will be halfway through a game of Tetris by the time you’ve made your second point.

  Sure enough, almost as soon as we started, he glanced at his watch and pulled out the BlackBerry, feet up on the table. I was signaling to the NSA guys to speed things up and to simplify the data, but it was too late. Professor Gandhi cut us off with a predictable routine: “Calm down, Hillary. Remember, we’ve got to drop the combative language and build bridges. There are no enemy states, just world leaders who haven’t met us yet. Let’s all locate our inner peace and commit to spread that peace to all those we meet. Politics is about people and I have a way with people.”

  We tried to stay on track and get the message across to him, but he pushed that stupid button on the desk he uses to call Biden in to break up meetings. (He thinks this is a big state secret, which shows how well he understands Washington. Bill used that same button to call Podesta in to break up his meetings.) So we had to leave.

  Anyway, the whole thing was embarrassing, and there is no doubt that the man is in over his head. Does he really think the Europeans like him any more than they liked Bill? Fat chance. And as for Michelle (his “secret diplomatic weapon”), it’s only a matter of time before she and Carla Bruni get into a diva smackdown Dynasty-style! It’s so obvious that Michelle is jealous of me. She’s probably already started picking her campaign staff for an Illinois Senate run. Copy cat.

  These other countries are going to roll her husband every chance they get. And I just know the right-wingers will go nuts, and we’ll get hammered in the elections.

  Oh, well. Stupid Democrats. I tried to warn them.

  By the end of his first year in office, President Obama had gone out of his way to criticize former U.S. foreign policy in Western Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Russia, and Asia. That pretty much covers the entire world. Fortunately for President Obama, we are not in contact with life on other planets, or he would have had to apologize to them as well. (I can hear him addressing the United Federation of Planets right now: “Too often, we have viewed your precious and invaluable habitations as nothing more than a wasteland to be ‘explored.’ ”)

  THE DIARY OF FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA

  THE WHITE HOUSE

  April 20, 2009

  So I’ve been reading the press accounts of Barack’s foreign tour—what a bunch of nonsense! All this stuff about how he’s been “apologizing” to everyone! That’s so wrong. In every speech, he includes a whole paragraph about the greatness of America, and how we’ve helped the world, and so forth. That’s an apology?

  I told him: You haven’t apologized enough! This country needs a president who will apologize. We have a lot to atone for. Makes you wonder if he was listening when Reverend Jeremiah was preaching. What a prophetic voice. “U.S. of KKK” . . . “God damn America” . . . Amen, amen.

  Being the supportive wife that I am, I shared with him some of the things I learned about American history while I was at Princeton—things that aren’t normally taught in America . . . well, they’re taught at good schools like Princeton, but they’re not taught to enough regular Americans. But he didn’t seem all that interested—he acted as though he had heard it all before. Whatever. He’s never been serious about his studies.

  But I wouldn’t let him off that easily. I explained that we should use our high office to tell the truth about all the bad things this country has done. He started giving me a list of excuses about domestic politics, and whining about how the Republicans would criticize him. I said, “Barack, you need to be asking yourself what’s the right thing to do.” He started to say something about polling, parroting Axelrod’s advice, and how Hillary wasn’t on boa
rd with his apology strategy. But I wasn’t going to let him turn a moral argument into a discussion about political tactics. Plus, Hillary is just jealous of me anyway. Just when I had Barack cornered, Biden crashed in and said they had to run off to another meeting. Who does that old fool think he is, waltzing into the Oval uninvited when a wife is talking to her husband? When I’m president a senator, I won’t put up with such nonsense.

  The apologies continued in 2010. Most recently, President Obama held an embarrassing summit with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico in which he and other Democrats cheered Calderón’s attacks on Arizona’s new immigration law—a law that is overwhelmingly popular in the United States. Now leaders from other countries feel free to come here and denounce our laws. But why shouldn’t they denounce us? They are merely following the president’s example.

  A SORRY EXCUSE FOR LEADERSHIP

  Contrary to what the dinosaur media would have you believe, President Obama’s apologies have not led to a stronger or more secure America. There are (at least) three critical problems with his approach.

  We’re Not the Bad Guys

  Our seminar-leader-in-chief accepts and promotes the simplistic version of American history promoted by anti-American left-wingers in university history departments nationwide. They believe the United States achieved power and prosperity by exploiting everyone and everything—destroying the environment, abusing “indigenous peoples,” and using its military to intimidate and kill its enemies. This warped view of history teaches that Americans are generally cold and indifferent toward foreigners, and that we often reject efforts to work in partnership with other nations.

  But foreign policy is not checkers. The game of nations is played for keeps, and the losers are often killed. For centuries, prudent American statesmen have realized these facts, and they have not hesitated to act forcefully to defend American interests—even if doing so brought protests from abroad. By such actions, they were simply fulfilling the primary obligation of any national government—the obligation to protect its citizens from harm.

  Consider, for example, President Obama’s statement that the United States has a special responsibility to restrain the spread of nuclear weapons because we are “the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon.” Such a phrase leaves the impression that President Truman dropped a couple of A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki just because he could— that Americans were indifferent to the massive destruction of life resulting from nuclear weapons. You wouldn’t know that U.S. policymakers were trying to end a devastating war that we did not start, one that had already resulted in the deaths of more than four hundred thousand Americans, and that threatened to continue for years if we were forced to invade Japan. You would never know that ever since 1945, Americans have had a robust debate over the proper use of nuclear weapons, and that generations of Americans grew up in the shadow of a potential nuclear holocaust. In other words, you would not know that U.S. policymakers prior to Obama were dedicated and earnest men and women trying to do their best in a dangerous world—not a bunch of trigger-happy cowboys. By leaving such an impression, President Obama not only insults the memories of men like Harry Truman and George C. Marshall, he invites other countries to do so as well.

  THE DIARY OF RUSSIAN PREMIER VLADIMIR PUTIN

  MOSCOW, RUSSIA

  July 4, 2009

  Given the date, I thought this was an appropriate day to talk to Comrade “President” Medvedev of Russia about final preparations for our upcoming meeting with the new American president.

  I hate dealing with a puppet president! It would be so much easier to do everything myself. I always have to explain things to Dmitry—simple things that even a lowly KGB security agent should be able to understand.

  Today, for example, he tried to be clever about Obama. He said to me, “Mr. Premier, what sort of scheme is this Obama up to? I know he appears to be weak, but isn’t he hiding something? What is he really up to?”

  I replied, “Dmitry, do you not remember President Carter?” He reminded me that he was still in school during that glorious era. I always forget how young he is. So I had to explain: “Dmitry, let me tell you about American liberals. They are not clever. They are not complex. They are very simple people, who live by one basic rule: So long as America is nice to the world, the world will be nice to her in return.”

  He said, “I thought that had to be a ruse.”

  I explained, “It is no ruse. I have sat through meetings with them and listened to tapes of their telephone conversations for years, and I know how they think. They feel great guilt over the wealth and power of their country, and they seek ways to make it up to the rest of the world. They feel great loneliness, so they always look for friends in other countries.”

  He then asked: “What should we do?”

  I said, “Prey on their guilty feelings. Talk about their favorite issues—like climate change, or helping the poor. Make them believe that all we Soviets Russians have ever wanted was brotherhood among the nations. And at the same time, keep making demands. Whenever they yield on one point, simply ask for something else. Never let them feel that their guilt has been expiated.”

  “Don’t they ever push back?” he asked.

  I said, “Of course not. They’ll love you for it. Remember, they want you to forgive them. The tougher you are, the more they’ll respect you.”

  I hope he understood it all. But even if he fails, I have my own meeting with the new president, and I can take care of this myself—as usual.

  Americans have no reason to go hat in hand to the rest of the world, begging for forgiveness as though we’re some sort of rogue nation. By the standards of other great nations in history, our power has been used with a remarkable spirit of generosity. One would expect that our own president would know this fact, and would use his bully pulpit—and his great eloquence—to defend our reputation on the world stage. The last thing we need is a president who uses his own speeches to peddle anti-American stereotypes.

  Where’s My Apology?

  Have you noticed how President Obama apologizes only to foreign audiences? Where are the apologies for the liberal welfare programs in this country that have wasted enormous sums of taxpayer money? Where are the apologies for the criminals who went free because of excessive liberal concerns about legal technicalities? Where are the apologies for the countless American schools run into the ground by incompetent liberal administrators? Where are the apologies for the “arrogant” liberal justices on the Supreme Court who imposed their opinions about abortion and other social issues on the rest of us? Where are the apologies for the “dismissive” attitudes many American liberals have shown toward the millions of fellow citizens who listen to talk radio, attend tea parties, and watch Fox?

  President Obama’s defenders justify his apologies abroad by saying that they were necessary to rebuild relationships after the Bush administration. In other words, the apologies are merely a tactic to win popular support for President Obama’s pro-American ideas. But if this were the case, why not use apologies at home? If apologies are so effective in winning over hostile foreigners, why doesn’t Obama use them to win over hostile Republicans— or even hostile talk-show hosts?

  The answer is simple: President Obama knows a lot more about American politics—and American audiences—than he knows about his foreign listeners. He remembers what happened when President Clinton said, “The era of big government is over.” For years, Republicans used that concession to bash liberal efforts to create new government programs. President Obama understands (and I think understands correctly) that if he were to publicly admit the many mistakes made by liberals—even if he did so as part of an effort to promote liberalism—conservatives would use such an admission to convince their fellow Americans to reject liberalism altogether. President Obama is far too talented a politician—and far too realistic about the American political process—to give Republicans such a compelling propaganda victory.

  When it comes to Ame
rican politics, President Obama properly recognizes that some differences are lasting and cannot be smoothed over with an apology. Or maybe he simply believes that foreigners are somehow more “reasonable” than American conservatives—that it’s easier to reach a meeting of the minds with Vladimir Putin or angry left-wingers in Western Europe than with the GOP. Perhaps—and this strikes me as the most likely explanation of all—he’s never thought about these issues in a rigorous manner. For decades, American liberals have divided their time between ruthlessly attacking American conservatives and shamelessly apologizing to foreigners. President Obama is just following that same ignoble tradition.

  Liberals cry foul whenever anyone criticizes their patriotism, but this behavior cries out for such criticism. I find it simply incredible that an American president would repeat simplistic anti-American stereotypes as though they were true—knowing that he would thereby give ammunition to people who hate us. I would think that feelings of national pride and honor alone would be sufficient to restrain Obama from being so critical, in both word and gesture, of his own nation—the same nation that elected him president.

  THE DIARY OF VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

  U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY

  April 12, 2010

  I’m trying to wrap my mind around Barack’s newfound penchant for bowing. Today at the nuclear summit he reached a new low, and I mean that physically and figuratively, Lord Almighty, is there anyone he hasn’t gone ninety degrees for?!

  Barack is something else. In front of the press, he bent right over for the Chinese president Hu Jintao. Granted, I was a little red-faced myself when they introduced me to the Chinese dictator The staff told me his name rhymes with that tasty chicken dish, Kung Pow. So when the time came I said, “Great to meet you President Kung Pow [sic], uh, Pow Wow. Aw, s*#t.” It’s hard keeping all these names straight. But at least I didn’t make a “Hu’s on first?” joke. And I certainly didn’t bow to the little guy!