News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. May 4, 2012: The situation could change in the coming days but for right now President Barack Obama is looking very, very bad in his handling of the matter of the Chinese dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng.
First of all, relieving Obama of responsibility here is nonsense. There can be no doubt even while he was on his expensive taxpayer funded wasteful campaign trip to Afghanistan he was being fully informed about Guangcheng’s flight to supposed safety in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, what transpired during his stay and the manner of him leaving “voluntarily” into the waiting arms of the repressive Chinese authorities. Obama knew all that or should.
As of right now, Thursday, May 3, 2011, this is turning into a disaster of lethal proportions to Obama’s character and credibility, except for those of us who already say what character and credibility are you talking about when it comes to Obama.
Certainly the Wall Street Journal and other news sources are reporting that Guangcheng was encouraged to leave the U.S. embassy if not even more forcefully pressured at least being told he could have confidence the loving Chinese authorities who have repeatedly beat him and his family while keeping him imprisoned would take care of him now.
Who with even a shred of compassion or logic in the U.S. government would believe the Chinese madmen would provide this celebrated dissident to live a normal life and go on his merry way and even less so making these concessions to the Americans?
Planet Earth to Barack Obama. This is not believable now that Chen Guangcheng has left the embassy …
Well it looks like the Chinese are taking care of him the same way this repressive regime this collective dictatorship the Goon Squad the Chinese Politburo took care of him before and does thousands upon thousands even millions of Chinese men and women and their families who have the audacity to believe they are entitled to some very basic human freedoms.
Keep in mind it is an open secret no secret at all from Day One the Obama Administration has been soft on Chinese government repression never making it a front burner issue always placing it on the back burner raised in the vaguest terms which the Chinese authorities could ignore Obama’s feeble try at compassion and whitewash critics of Obama’s softness on the issue.
Well surprise! It is now time for Truth or Consequences!
Guangcheng almost immediately after leaving the safety of the U.S. compound in Beijing offered a free ride to a hospital by the U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke who then quickly departed.
Guangcheng said to himself: “O My God (not out loud that would get him in more trouble) WHAT HAVE I DONE?”
After a dramatic almost impossible escape from his home, imprisonment and somehow sneaking past the goons and into the U.S. Embassy, he left handed over to the same vindictive officials he had just fled from and wasting his efforts.
This smells bad …. Really Bad!
If Obama had not been so interested in pleasing the Chinese Masters then American officials would have never recommended that Guangcheng leave the compound and would have worked hard to get him to stay without either at minimum a written signed agreement from the Chinese leaders to respect his rights and provide specific guarantees about where and how he would be allowed to live and speak out freely.
Even that would call for skepticism but at least we could nail the Chinese with the document if they reneged. Without that agreement at the least America should have kept him in the protective cover of our Embassy and formally told the Chinese we were encouraging him to seek asylum in the U.S.
So President Obama likes to take very long trips to far away places for short stays as he did to Afghanistan this week. Well Obama can fly to China and personally escort Guangcheng and his family back to freedom and Washington, DC on Air Force One.
But that would take courage on Barack Obama’s part. Not his strong suit! Rather he’d prefer to sign long tern agreements with one of the most corrupt leaders on Earth Harman Karzi.
Whatever happens with Chen Guangcheng in the coming days, if some face saving resolution appears to take place until all the media attention disappears, nothing will change the fundamental issue of Barack Obama’s approach to Chinese repression of its citizens and his supportive attitude toward the Chinese regime. Anyone forgot the glitzy State Dinner the Obamas lavished on the Chinese Premier last year?
This at the same time that President Obama’s fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo sat in a Chinese jail where he still is. His crime? Winning the Nobel Peace Prize!
WHY did Barack Obama get the Nobel Peace Prize?
Answer: there is no good reason.
Obviously the Nobel Committee was as conned by Barack Obama early on as were the rest of us. Obama would have refused this unjustified honor if he had character but he didn’t hesitate for a moment to say yes I will take it no matter. Give me the Medal, let me hang it around my neck.
The only logic to Obama getting a Nobel Prize is that Alfred Noble himself was the exact opposite of his prizes. Noble made his fortune selling gunpowder to the world so humans could “effectively” kill each other. In Obama’s case, what he has done is become one of the most militaristic U.S. Presidents – the exact opposite of what most who voted for him expected.
China, Afghanistan, Pakistan – President Barack Obama is doing nothing to present a new America to the world. It is just more of the same old stuff. He is even capable of making the Right Wing Republicans and Mitt Romney look good on China. They did not hesitate to condemn the collective Chinese dictators.
The ultimate importance of Chen Guangcheng and his fate is the clear message it delivers about the ever ambiguous, always pliable Barack Obama, who lacks the character or conviction to lead us into the future or challenge the repressive Chinese leadership.
Hope you like being stuck in the past, present and the Status Quo. Barack Obama will never deliver the better future he promised.
About The Writer: Arthur Piccolo is a professional writer and commentator and often writes about Latin America for New Americas.
