Former UN Ambassador Bolton’s Harsh Criticism for Obama

Ambassador John Bolton

By: Christine Morabito – November, 2011

It disappointed many conservatives when former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton announced he was not running for president. His invaluable foreign policy experience is sorely lacking in the current administration; and the world is taking notice.

Obama is “the first president since Franklin Roosevelt, since Pearl Harbor, who doesn’t put protecting America’s security at the top of his priority list. He doesn’t wake up every morning thinking to himself, ‘How can I make America safer?’” so said Bolton in his September 8 speech in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Instead, Obama “wakes up every morning saying ‘How can I restructure America’s economy? How can I tax and redistribute more wealth? How can I change America fundamentally?’ which is what he said he wanted to do in the 2008 campaign. …

He addresses national security only when he has to.”

As Bolton sees it, the president’s refusal to acknowledge the global war on terrorism is, among other things, “patronizing to Muslims. They are as aware as we are, through their own tragic experience, what happens when radical jihadists engage in terrorism, often against their fellow Muslims. … It doesn’t matter whether you talk about it or not, it’s still out there.”

Acquiring nuclear, chemical and biological weapons remains one of Al Qaeda’s highest priorities. Bolton cited recent press reports showing that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is trying to produce a biological weapon using the deadly agent, ricin. Ten years after September 11, he believes we are still incredibly vulnerable, yet, “we now have people on the editorial pages of major newspapers and in the administration itself saying ‘The war on terror is overstated. ’”

The ambassador criticized Obama for being prepared to accept a nuclear Iran. 

“For all the threats we’ve seen … the administration has acted like the greatest threat to international peace and security in the Middle East is Israel’s construction of apartment buildings in East Jerusalem. … If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got his fondest wish, and Israel disappeared tomorrow, the problems of potential nuclear strife in the Middle East, the problems of international terrorism would go on as if nothing had ever happened.”

Although he has yet to endorse a presidential candidate, Bolton, like many of us, resents the choice being made for him. “The professional political commentariat … is trying to narrow down the Republican field as quickly as they can … so they can spend the next 14 months [now 12] trashing that person in order to help Barack Obama get reelected.”

Why not run for President? Despite his desire to spotlight foreign policy, Bolton is aware that not all of his views have broad-based appeal. For starters, he is against ethanol subsidies, a position, he joked, which would not be very popular in Iowa.

As a strong voice for reform in the U.N., he often drew controversy. When asked about Agenda 21, the U.N. policy designed — among other subversive objectives — to disarm Americans, he repeated remarks he made while serving in the U.N. “We’re not going to agree to any treaty that, if it were law in the United States, would violate the Second Amendment.” The insidious Agenda 21, warmly embraced by the Clinton administration, was their way of “trying to put something through the U.N. that would have never made it through the Senate.”

Regarding immigration, he admitted, “… another reason I’m not running for president. I believe we should increase legal immigration. More insistence on Americanization would help people do well in this country.”

The hawkish Bolton considers Obama’s lack of interest in foreign policy both dangerous and naïve.

While he admits the defense budget is not without its share of waste, he worries about severe cuts to military spending. “Today, we have the smallest number of ships in the Navy at any point since 1916 … at 280 and going down.” — A far cry from Reagan’s vision of a 600 ship navy to defend our nation.

Why is the 2012 election so critical?

As Bolton opines, “Our adversaries … have taken note of the lack of leadership in the White House. They see the weaknesses and indecisiveness, they see it in international affairs, and they see it in the domestic context. 

… although … if you asked Ahma dinejad and Kim Jong Il what they thought of healthcare, I’m sure they would favor a public option too.”

This administration has virtually ignored the increase in Iran and North Korea’s nuclear capacities and “the threat of an increasingly assertive China … increasing their nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities and dramatically expanding their conventional armed  forces.” They also overlook Venezuela, with its massive oil deposits, and the world’s second largest uranium reserves, while they develop a close, and thus nefarious, relationship with Iran.

Despite Obama’s bad policies, Bolton believes that America will recover, but not without adequate attention to national security. “You cannot separate national security from the renewal of American prosperity … If we’re not able to defend our interests around the world, defend international trade lanes, have stability in international affairs, we will not have sustained prosperity here at  home.”

Bolton encouraged the New Hampshire audience to question presidential candidates about their strategy to protect our nation from those who wish us harm. He is looking forward to the 2012 debate on foreign policy between Barack Obama and the Republican nominee. “By that  time the president … will have mastered the art of pretending to be commander in chief.”

In closing, he said this: “As important as it is to replace Obama with somebody who at least understands what America’s system of Liberty gives us … a president has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. They’ve got to be able to focus on national security as well as a domestic economy.”

Please join our next Tea Party event: 

November 16 at 7 p.m.

Guest: Staff Sgt. John Katseros USAAF, ret.

VFW, 32 Park Street, N. Andover