Appearing on RT's CrossTalk, Cliff Schecter and tea party leader Mark Williams got into a heated debate over foreign policy. When host Peter Lavelle brought up the fact that President Obama is actually more of a hawk on foreign policy than many give him credit for, Mark Williams immediately went into the typical right-wing meme that President Obama hasn't done anything on foreign policy:
Williams: Again, he's not a hawk after all. The fact that Osama bin Laden is dead. The fact that Qadaffi is dead. These were all ready in the works. We've been fighting al Qaeda since 2001 and actually before that covertly. So this is nothing that Obama went out and did. It's not like he's Rambo, ripped off his shirt, stuck a knife between his teeth and went out.
This is a President who goes around the world, apologizing for this country, apologizing for the American people, apologizing for what we have done in the world. Bows before foreign leaders. Bowed before the Saudi king. He even bowed before a mayor in Louisiana.
This is a guy who has no foreign policy. What he does have is a thirst for and lust for the use of power.
Schecter: That's patently ridiculous. I guess in Mark's world it would be preferable if we had a President who declared victory in Iraq and got up on an aircraft carrier and pumped his own chest before thousands of Americans died in a war that wasn't planned out, where Paul Wolfowitz said "oh the oil will pay for the whole thing and the rest". That's ridiculous.
You know I can bring back pictures of George W. Bush walking, holding hands with the Saudi leaders and frankly if anyone bowed down to the Saudi's it was the Bush family, it wasn't Barack Obama.
From there Williams goes into the standard right wing meme of "but Bush isn't running for President". This is rather ironic from a party that constantly invokes Reagan and Carter to say that bringing up a former President is somehow dodging the debate.
But what really gets me about this whole exchange is the bowing issue. Apparently on January 20, 2009, America made a major change in that our President should no longer travel overseas. Every time Obama makes a trip to a foreign country the right starts into their faux outrage mode. That faux outrage is always exacerbated if Obama shows respect by bowing or kissing or showing the traditional form of respect that is part of that country's culture. This started only two months into the Obama presidency when he bowed before the Saudi King, yet the right never once exhibited the same outrage when George Bush did the same thing or even kiss the Saudi Prince.
It was great seeing Cliff back on the talk shows fighting the standard right wing attack lines. He can take them down like no other. If you would like to see more of Cliff's appearance on CrossTalk, check out the full episode on YouTube.
