Imagine Vladamir Putin on a European trip apologizing for Russia invading its neighbors and murdering millions of people in the name of Communism. Imagine Putin saying Russia will never be at war with capitalists, is ashamed of his country’s past treatment of minorities, that they were wrong to send thousands of innocent people to Siberian Gulags for dissent and other trumped up charges, and that he’s sorry for decimating Chechnya and invading Georgia.
OK, how about this, imagine Hugo Chavez bowing to President Bush or hugging Dick Cheney. Silly, huh?
How about Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad going to Europe and saying, “You know…all that extremist stuff we do, the hanging of gay people, the imprisoning and execution of dissenters, the elimination of women’s rights — that was my predecessors doing. I’m not like that.”
The reason this will never happen is because these men operate from a position of strength. They’re leaders who represent their people as they see fit and believe they are right. Even if a lot of what they do is reprehensible, they have to show the world they stand by their country.
Instead, what do we have? A president who complains about his predecessor and apologizes and knocks America’s history. This doesn’t sound like a world leader, more like a Hollywood celebrity trying to score brownie points abroad.
Most people don’t respect this kind of behavior. You should always be true to your home team, especially if you’re the coach.
Our enemies don’t respect this kind of weak behavior. John Kennedy tried something similar in the early 60s when he went to Berlin and talked to Khrushchev. In response, we got the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviets perceived him as weak when he tried to play all nice and fluffy like Obama.
To our foes that’s like having a “Kick Me” sign on your back.
