Obama is a huge failure on foreign affairs

After reading the text of Obama's speech to the UN today I am convinced he is incompetent as a world leader. His views are naive and myopic and seems to have a complete lack of historical knowledge in terms of national interests and diplomacy. This is what I see as his biggest flaw in logic (excerpt from his UN speech):

The choice is ours. We can be remembered as a generation that chose to drag the arguments of the 20th century into the 21st; that put off hard choices, refused to look ahead, and failed to keep pace because we defined ourselves by what we were against instead of what we were for. Or, we can be a generation that chooses to see the shoreline beyond the rough waters ahead; that comes together to serve the common interests of human beings, and finally gives meaning to the promise embedded in the name given to this institution: the United Nations.

Common intersts of human beings?

I find this quite condescending that he can determine what mine, your, or anyone else's interests are. Just because he thinks something is important doesn't mean anyone else does. For example, Obama calls for the equal rights for women - is this a "common interest" of everyone? Nope. There are millions, maybe billions of people, let alone governments, who don't believe in equal rights for women. I do, but I don't pretend that everyone else does. (Hell, the US never passed the Equal Rights Amendment.)

And this:

Yet I also know that this body is made up of sovereign states. And sadly, but not surprisingly, this body has often become a forum for sowing discord instead of forging common ground; a venue for playing politics and exploiting grievances rather than solving problems.

The logical flaw is this: nations don't have "common interests," they have "national interests." There is a huge difference! Nations can have similar interests or mutual interests, but they are not common. Nations don't function that way.

This guy explains it well:

For an administration whose officials regularly boast of having what they call “the best brand in the world,” there is what Stephen Sestanovich calls growing “frustration with what other countries are prepared to contribute to advancing supposedly common interests.” Personal relations are important, said Mr. Sestanovich, a former Clinton administration ambassador with ties to the current team, but national interests still dominate. “That’s what American presidents generally discover,” he said.

http://thepage.time.com/remarks-obama-at-the-u-n-genereal-assembly/

I don't believe that Obama or his Administration will ever figure that out. Certainly not after reading the UN speech.

http://thepage.time.com/remarks-obama-at-the-u-n-genereal-assembly/

Then we get to Obama's "four pillars" - nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the pursuit of peace, combating climate change, and increasing economic development and opportunity.

Again, quite condescending and myopic. These might be important to him, but not to many other countries (or even many of the people in the US).

Suppose you are the leader of Tonga, a small, poor island nation in the Pacific. Which of the four pillars would be your priorities? Nuclear weapons? Hardly. Pursuit of peace? Irrelevent, really to a small island off by itself. Climate change? That's a joke right? Economic development? Sort of, but not in the same context that Obama talked about in his speech. So Obama wants to work cooperatively with the nations of the world to "solve problems" - yet he doesn't seem to see that each nation has their own unique set interests, agendas, priorities, and problems.

So Obama says he's not naive, yet that is exactly how he comes across. And weak. And ignorant. And condescending. Who is he to lecture the world on their behavior?

And on his speech blurb about devloping countries needing to root out corruption please visit this blog post:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1461-President-Obama,-Hypocrite-In-Chief.html