Very Little Applause for Obama at the U.N.

Barack Obama took the floor at 10:10. Neither Nicolas Sarkozy nor Alain Juppe were present.

The U.S. president was warmly applauded upon his arrival. Half an hour later, as he ended his speech, it was another story entirely. The applause was rather chilly. Fortunately, there was a kind of clattering in the U.N. press box, giving the illusion of applause. But down among the delegates, the response was flat and lifeless.

I have never heard so little applause for Barack Obama. The Nobel Prize was a long way away.

Barack Obama went back to the U.N.’s origins, to its founding by Roosevelt upon the ashes of war. He summarized the organization’s mission: “The pursuit of peace in an imperfect world.” In this very imperfect world, peace “depends upon a sense of justice.” But do not despair, he said. The tide of war is receding. Renewal is everywhere, even in New York where the towers are being rebuilt. “Yes, this has been a difficult decade,” he said. But the time has come to rebuild peace.

Obama described the Arab revolutions with verve, its images and the taste of freedom. Mubarak and Gadhafi are gone. He cited Osama bin Laden on the same list. “The idea that change could only come through violence has been buried with him,” he said.

But let us remember: “Peace is hard.” Societies can split apart. And that is why the U.N. must act to support the democracies in transition.

Then, a few sentences on Syria and its people, who have demonstrated “dignity and courage.” The question for us is clear: Will we stand with the Syrian people, or with their oppressors? The council should sanction the Syrian regime, he argued.

The president also mentioned Yemen. The United States supports the people’s aspirations for free elections. In Bahrain, we are “satisfied” with the measures that have been undertaken. The United States is a “close friend” of Bahrain, that much is clear.

But everyone is concerned with Palestine, Obama acknowledged, recalling that he had called for the creation of a Palestinian state exactly one year ago. On that count he was, frankly, disappointing with his careful hedging.

There is no “shortcut to peace,” he said. He returned to several themes that he had already discussed in many previous speeches: the Northern Ireland example, the fact that peace is only possible when each party “learns to stand in each other’s shoes,” to put themselves in the other’s place, etc. …

Only negotiations can lead to a true Palestinian state. For the first time, instead of refusing to come out in favor of either party, he advocated more for the Israeli cause than for the Palestinians. The U.S.’ project is to “encourage the parties to sit down together, to listen to each other” and that is “what the United Nations should be focused on in the weeks and months to come.” Close of proceedings.