Although they’re supposed to represent a country that encourages free expression, American politicians have displayed their immature debating mentality again. Recently, Sen. Barack Obama introduced legislation to withdraw American troops from Iraq by March 2008. Afterward, Australian Prime Minister John Howard criticized Obama’s plan as a “boon for terrorists,” implying that terrorists would interpret the move as weakness.
Like any intelligent person, Obama responded to Howard’s criticisms, saying the Bush administration’s “own intelligence agencies have indicated that the threat of terrorism has increased as a consequence of our actions over there,” according to CNN.com.
Unlike the Illinois senator, other politicians opted to question the very idea of a foreign politician critiquing an American lawmaker.
For instance, Sen. John Cornyn said, “I would prefer that Mr. Howard stay out of our domestic politics and we’ll stay out of his domestic politics.”
Even though Obama is an American politician, that doesn’t mean Howard was getting into America’s domestic politics. On the contrary, the Iraq War affects more countries than America. Therefore, Cornyn’s comments are just stupid.
Other American politicians, both Republican and Democrat, told Howard to stick to his own country’s affairs. None of these politicians want to admit that the war we’re fighting is important to many other nations.
But there’s something more disappointing about our politicians’ statements. Their thoughts express a point of view that can only be summed as “Freedom of speech is OK as long as we’re the ones who can talk.”
Howard pointed out another folly of these politicians. Apparently, the Labor Party in Australia consistently criticizes Bush’s Iraq policy. “Yet my criticism of the policy position of somebody who is not president – and is not even the Democratic candidate for the presidency – is interfering in American politics and is absolutely forbidden.”
Even if you disagree with Howard’s stance on Iraq, you have to see that he is absolutely right about the hypocrisy and stupidity of American politicians.
In case you don’t remember, many months ago Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad challenged George W. Bush to an open debate about world affairs. The White House turned it down, basically writing it off as a way to distract the world from Iran’s nuclear program. Ahmadinejad correctly said that America says it supports free expression but doesn’t back up that belief in words or action. More and more, this analysis shows the truth.
However, I’m glad that at least one American politician, Obama, acknowledged a world leader’s criticism and defended his ideas in a coherent and respectable fashion. I doubt I’ll vote for any current American politician, but Obama should be commended for his willingness to debate.