There was a time when America stood up for embattled allies and friends, and most Americans, we believe, still want to - but not the modern liberal progressives. For their entire adult lives, they have described America as a destabilizing force, a force for evil in the world. In their mind not a problem exists that America is not ultimately responsible for. Similarly, the Administration seems to think that the current spate of Palestinian attacks was provoked by Israel, and, although it doesn’t come right out and say that Israel is wrong to defend itself, it criticizes Israel for doing so. Come to think of it, the progressives treated the Bush Administration the same way – that is why, over time, by comparison with Iraq, Afghanistan morphed into “the good war.” By now of course, the Obama administration doesn’t really want to fight that one anymore, either.
A few weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the United Nations. The Obama Administration, which earlier strove mightily to prevent Mr. Netanyahu from addressing Congress, didn't want to hear him at the UN either - so it arranged a pretext that demanded the presence of our UN Ambassador and other high officials. Boycott may be too strong a word for this type of behavior, but that effectively is what it was. We are fairly certain that they would not miss a talk by a Palestinian official. America continues to send hundreds of millions of dollars to the Palestinians, who continue to reject Israel’s right to exist and continue to suborn terrorist acts against it.
The Administration trumpets its agreement with Iran, closing its eyes to all types of bad and criminal behavior by the Iranians. It recognized Cuba's Communist government, and wasn't very seriously concerned about human rights violations in Cuba, or political prisoners, its harboring of fugitives from the US or its expropriation of US assets. The administration got its agreement with Iran, and has exchanged embassies with Cuba, but shows no pity for the domestic opponents of those governments.
The Obama Administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton infamously "reset" relations with Russia - and immediately undercut Poland and the Czech Republic by dropping plans for missile defense there, and now very feebly resists subsequent Russian encroachment in Crimea and Ukraine.
The Administration "ended" the war in Iraq in 2011, and the place has been collapsing ever since. Its policy has failed in Syria, failed in Egypt, failed in Libya, failed in Iraq, failed with ISIS. It is hard to find a place that it has not failed - but its determination to combat what it sees as "the greatest threat" - Climate Change - is second to none. Perhaps they want so desperately to exaggerate the dangers of that “threat” because it can be blamed on Western civilization and America itself. The late Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Ambassador to the United Nations in the Reagan administration, properly employed the phrase “blame America first” to describe the words and deeds of the progressives, in and out of government. Some things don’t change: the Progressives continue to castigate America and its friends, even as they minimize and excuse its opponents. They do not believe that America is a force for peace or freedom, so why would they take a stand on its behalf?