Daddy Obama
Published in El Tiempo
(Colombia) on 6 August 2014
by María A. García de la Torre (link to
original)
Why do we expect “Daddy” Obama to fly, like Zeus, and cast his lightning bolt at anything that strikes our fancy?
It’s Obama’s fault that Netanyahu is bombing Gaza. It’s Obama’s fault that there aren’t tougher sanctions against Putin. It’s Obama’s fault that the Bush administration tortured individuals that were considered members of al-Qaida. It’s Obama’s fault that the violence in Honduras is causing thousands of children to crowd at the border between Mexico and the United States.
How is it possible that he has permitted al-Assad to annihilate thousands of innocent people in Syria? Daddy Obama, you’re guilty of everything bad that happens in the world. As president of the most powerful country in the world, Obama is directly responsible for not saving — with his Superman cape — vulnerable nations, regardless of commercial, military and cultural agreements, and above all, regardless of the fact that intervention involves a direct violation of the autonomy of those nations.
Why do we expect Daddy Obama to fly, like Zeus, and cast his lightning bolt at anything that strikes our fancy? It’s partly his fault, since the title of president of the United States comes with an emperor’s authority, and the men that have occupied the Oval Office have behaved this way since time immemorial. As demigods who decide which leaders fall and which deserve mercy and the right to continue living. They intervene here and there, using the excuse of commercial agreements; they install their military bases and they sell weapons. So, yes, those that expect a response from Obama’s imperial court are partly correct.
However, the other part of the blame lies with those who accept this imperialistic behavior. Sadly enough, they demand it from Obama but restrict it in leaders like Netanyahu and Putin. They demand from the U.S. president what they condemn in others: to intervene, to attack, to silence, to “stop the genocide” — with another genocide.
This is what they ask, although few seem to be aware of it. It’s easy to say, “but why doesn´t Obama do something?!” It’s more difficult to go a step further: this “something” is nothing short of an economic boycott that could result in a military attack.
So, the United States has to go to war with every country ruled by a man or woman that doesn’t meet the standards of democracy and liberty that we have in mind? Bush did that, and it didn’t go well for him. In his escalating wars throughout the Middle East, he left desolation and caused thousands of deaths.
Each nation is responsible for its rulers, and each ruler is responsible only for his nation. If we demand imperialistic behavior from another country, we are reasoning just like the man who today oppresses Gaza.
In recent days, Barack Obama has said that, although it doesn’t appear so, sometimes the United States cannot resolve every problem. The emperor is curbing those that demand imperialistic behavior — the very same parties that then work furiously toward the signing of inequitable commercial treaties with third world countries. What a paradox.
If we criticize interventionism, we should be consistent with that judgment in all respects, including when we are powerless witnesses of the painful, systematic execution of thousands of innocent civilians.
The Democratic president’s domestic agenda has its own fires to put out, including the immigration emergency involving thousands of children on the Mexican border, as well as the merciless pressure from the Republican Party against an immigration reform that could turn the polls against him.
We must view Obama as just another president, worried about the well-being of his people above anything else, who cannot resolve every conflict in the world just by picking up the telephone. We must change our mindset and take responsibility for our own realities without passively waiting for someone else, a “superdad,” to come and rescue us.
It’s Obama’s fault that Netanyahu is bombing Gaza. It’s Obama’s fault that there aren’t tougher sanctions against Putin. It’s Obama’s fault that the Bush administration tortured individuals that were considered members of al-Qaida. It’s Obama’s fault that the violence in Honduras is causing thousands of children to crowd at the border between Mexico and the United States.
How is it possible that he has permitted al-Assad to annihilate thousands of innocent people in Syria? Daddy Obama, you’re guilty of everything bad that happens in the world. As president of the most powerful country in the world, Obama is directly responsible for not saving — with his Superman cape — vulnerable nations, regardless of commercial, military and cultural agreements, and above all, regardless of the fact that intervention involves a direct violation of the autonomy of those nations.
Why do we expect Daddy Obama to fly, like Zeus, and cast his lightning bolt at anything that strikes our fancy? It’s partly his fault, since the title of president of the United States comes with an emperor’s authority, and the men that have occupied the Oval Office have behaved this way since time immemorial. As demigods who decide which leaders fall and which deserve mercy and the right to continue living. They intervene here and there, using the excuse of commercial agreements; they install their military bases and they sell weapons. So, yes, those that expect a response from Obama’s imperial court are partly correct.
However, the other part of the blame lies with those who accept this imperialistic behavior. Sadly enough, they demand it from Obama but restrict it in leaders like Netanyahu and Putin. They demand from the U.S. president what they condemn in others: to intervene, to attack, to silence, to “stop the genocide” — with another genocide.
This is what they ask, although few seem to be aware of it. It’s easy to say, “but why doesn´t Obama do something?!” It’s more difficult to go a step further: this “something” is nothing short of an economic boycott that could result in a military attack.
So, the United States has to go to war with every country ruled by a man or woman that doesn’t meet the standards of democracy and liberty that we have in mind? Bush did that, and it didn’t go well for him. In his escalating wars throughout the Middle East, he left desolation and caused thousands of deaths.
Each nation is responsible for its rulers, and each ruler is responsible only for his nation. If we demand imperialistic behavior from another country, we are reasoning just like the man who today oppresses Gaza.
In recent days, Barack Obama has said that, although it doesn’t appear so, sometimes the United States cannot resolve every problem. The emperor is curbing those that demand imperialistic behavior — the very same parties that then work furiously toward the signing of inequitable commercial treaties with third world countries. What a paradox.
If we criticize interventionism, we should be consistent with that judgment in all respects, including when we are powerless witnesses of the painful, systematic execution of thousands of innocent civilians.
The Democratic president’s domestic agenda has its own fires to put out, including the immigration emergency involving thousands of children on the Mexican border, as well as the merciless pressure from the Republican Party against an immigration reform that could turn the polls against him.
We must view Obama as just another president, worried about the well-being of his people above anything else, who cannot resolve every conflict in the world just by picking up the telephone. We must change our mindset and take responsibility for our own realities without passively waiting for someone else, a “superdad,” to come and rescue us.