Time to Tune Out Obama

It is an oft-repeated musing many make, wondering how society took such a hard pivot into lunacy. From Paris to New York, we see hordes of angry youths shouting slogans they do not understand, venting their fury over topics they don’t grasp, and spouting nonsensical opinions that are often historically illiterate and grossly taken out of context. When did this happen? How? Why is it so widespread? While there are no simple answers, and speaking from a primarily American viewpoint, it is safe to say that one of the largest fuelers of this vapid mindset is former President Barack Obama.

While many still fawn over his presidency, his checkered legacy bears truth to his many failings: He fueled internal strife and proved to be much more of a divider than a unifier; he oversimplified complex topics such as police brutality and conflated historical racism with today’s society; and he hardly crossed the ideological line to work honestly with the other side of the aisle. But his gravest sins came from his utter incompetence when dealing with international affairs: he lackadaisically intervened in Libya without any plan for what would come after the combustibles went off; he was outright hostile to both Israel and Saudi Arabia while moving closer to Iran in the futile hope that his capitulations would pay off; he brushed off the Islamic State and failed to quash the threat before it grew into the monster that it became; he drew “red lines” in the sand as Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people and then failed to act when his lines were trampled upon; and he pushed the deeply flawed Iran Nuclear Deal that didn’t solve long-term issues and let Iranian fangs dig deeper into Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. The chaos we see in the Middle East is a direct response to his impotence in confronting the fanatics in Tehran.

So it is quite rich listening to a man with such a stained track record wax whimsically over Middle Eastern history a few days ago in Belfast. His comments laid bare the fact that he truly knows little about the history of the region, and that his worldview is comprised solely of college activist banter. When speaking on the foundation of the State of Israel, President Obama harkened back to centuries of European antisemitism and the culminating event of the Holocaust as driving factors behind the creation of the state. While this does play a role, it grossly erases the deeper roots of Jewish history. Jewish history is not European-based—something President Obama and his ilk always fail to take into account. The saga of the Jewish people was born in the sands of the Middle East. His comments only further push a skewed take on Jewish history, framing Jews as a white European colonial force that seized indigenous Arab land from native Palestinians. His comments also overlook the millennia-old story of Mizrahi Jews and the deeply rooted indigenous Jewish links to the land of Israel. Hebrew inscriptions, archaeological ruins, and sacred sites and structures dot the region, proving undeniable links between the land and the Jewish people. But empty mouthpieces like President Obama know very little of actual history, and their comments are taken up by newer generations of hollow activists who foment rage and fire without understanding complexity and nuance.

It is time we as a society move past these armchair musers who pontificate on matters they do not understand. What momentous achievement have they brought to the region in the last few decades? Especially President Obama—what positive change did he usher into the Middle East? Nothing. It took a very unconventional leader to flip the script and bring about peace deals that were thought impossible mere years ago. So perhaps we should put more stock in unconventional thinkers, makers, and doers, instead of stale mouthpieces with little achievement to stand on.