Give Us Liberty

Obama tells the U.N. how great he is

Examiner Editorial
August 30, 2010

President Obama’s administration sent a 29-page report to the United Nations on American human rights that portrays Obama’s policies as great leaps forward. (Jae C. Hong/Ap file)

President Obama's administration recently submitted a report to the United Nations on human rights in America. The 29-page report shows the nation badly flawed but fortunate to have a Nobel Prize winner as its leader. The report is billed as "a partial snapshot of the current human rights situation in the United States, including some of the areas where problems persist in our society." Among the nation's shortcomings listed in the report:

» Arizona has dared to try to enforce immigration laws that the federal government will not. But don't worry, Obama is suing them.

» We incarcerate dangerous terrorists at a military prison in Guantanamo Bay. But don't worry -- Obama has signed three executive orders to protect them from the last administration's rough handling and he "remains committed to closure of the Guantanamo detention facility."

» It's too hard to form a union, the document says -- either that or unions have just become less relevant. But don't worry, "there are several bills in our Congress that seek to strengthen workers' rights" -- bills like "card check," which will help institutionalize union intimidation and coercion by taking away a worker's right to a secret ballot.

The report also notes that as bad as our human rights situation is, help is on the way -- all thanks to Obama:

» America made "great strides" in human rights when "President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law." That's better known as Obamacare, the law that 60 percent of us want repealed.

» Obama is trying to repeal "Don't ask, don't tell" in the Department of Defense and the Defense of Marriage Act, which protects states' right to define marriage legislatively.

» The report mentions that in recent months, "the Department of Justice has worked to strengthen enforcement of federal voting rights laws." (So, just pretend, at least for a moment, that the New Black Panther case never happened.)

You get the picture: This is a self-serving political document that portrays Obama policies as great leaps forward, and things he opposes as steps backward. In the Bush years, America ignored the UN High Commission on Human Rights because the panel too often gave voice and sometimes positions of leadership to such human rights beacons as Cuba and China. Now, under Obama, our government is producing propaganda for world consumption at the expense of the American people. In other words, Obama has not merely joined Cuba and China on the commission, he is imitating their leaders' tactics, too.