Barack Obama will forever be remembered not just in America, but all over the world. When trying to nail down a single word to describe Obama’s foreign policies, the sure winner is: feckless. It is defined as being “weak; ineffective.” By golly, that is perfect.

Obama himself defined his leadership style as “leading from behind.” That is stunning because it articulates in his own words that he had no clue what it is to be a leader. He certainly didn’t provide any leadership either at home or abroad. Let’s review a few of the more memorable failures in leadership of Barack Obama as President of the United States (POTUS).

Recently Obama put the capstone on his tenure as POTUS by betraying Israel at the United Nations. There is little doubt that Obama sees the resolution he pushed through the UN Security Council denouncing Jewish settlements as a demonstration of his leadership. As his former Professor at Harvard Law Alan Dershowitz said, “Obama deceived me, he said he would have Israel’s back and instead he stuck a knife in it.” The US abstained from the vote that Obama engineered, thus allowing it to pass.

The settlements themselves are a smoke screen, hiding as they do the real issue which is that Palestine (PLO) refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. Any talk about a peace process begins and ends with the PLO accepting Israel’s right to exist. Until that happens there can be no peace. So pushing through the resolution was just a show, a way to embarrass the United States, again, as his days in the White House come to an end. The resolution was a perfect example why feckless describes Obama’s foreign policies as POTUS. And now it is on the record and part of international law that the settlements are on occupied land and illegal.

History shows that Jews have been on the land in question for more than two thousand years. It is absurd to suggest Jews “occupy” the West Bank. Moreover, the resolution said that Jerusalem also belongs to the Arabs, and that simply will never happen. The UN resolution was many things, but a show of leadership was not one of them.

The fact is that in foreign affairs Obama has so little respect among other countries that the Philippine President curses at him publically. Russian President Putin said relations between his country and the USA are now “frozen.” Russia, Iran and Turkey held talks in Moscow recently about the situation in the Middle East and they didn’t even invite the United States. By saying he believed in leading from behind, Obama was announcing to the world that he didn’t intend to lead at all.

The primary problem that Obama’s failure to lead created lies in the fact the United States is, and has been since at least the end of WWII, the world’s one indispensable country. No issue can be resolved or even advanced without the participation and leadership of America. Obama created a huge vacuum in world affairs by in essence withdrawing America from the world stage.

Obama’s supporters point to an issue he fabricated, climate change, and suggest he did lead on this issue. First, there is no such issue, Obama created the issue out of whole cloth. Second, what climate change was at its core was a wealth redistribution mechanism. Under the Paris accords, the U.S. committed to sending billions of dollars to other countries. Never mind that we are bankrupt and have no money to send.

The truth is in some very dark places in Obama’s mind, further damaging the financial foundation of this country was one of his goals. I make such an assertion fully recognizing that it suggests behavior that meets the definition of treason. Obama does not love America, the press never dug down into his stated goal to “fundamentally transform” the country. Had they done so, it would have become clear his intention was to harm the United States.

My college thesis as a History major was “Do Great People Make History, Or Does History Make Great People?” Do circumstances create situations that require leadership and someone provided it, or do some people become famous because they advanced humanity by their own initiative?

A review of history makes it clear that one cannot lead from behind. Obama abdicated his duty to the country he was elected to lead. What he did do was create chaos at home and abroad, and his legacy will deservedly be as the worst President ever.
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David W. Thompson worked in government, education and the non-profit sector for more than forty years. A graduate of Westminster College and Harvard University, he resides in Easley, SC. You can follow him
on his blog, Smokealarms2015.com.

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