OBAMA WILL HAVE USA PARTICIPATE IN DURBAN II HATE-FEST RUN BY CUBA, IRAN AND LIBYA

KIRSANOW/NRO:

... the Obama administration's decision to participate in preparations for Durban II is a worrisome development, betraying the kind of foreign policy fecklessness and deference to despots that was a hallmark of the Carter administration.

Durban I was an anti-West (with particular animus directed toward the U.S. and Israel) orgy wherein representatives from repressive, totalitarian regimes denounced democratic capitalism while demanding reparations from its practitioners.

... Durban II preparations are being led by Libya, Iran, and Cuba. That, by itself, should provide a bit of insight. If the Obama administration believes its participation in the Durban II bashfest can have a salutary effect on the human rights policies of these regimes, we're in for a long four years.

OBAMA WILL FIT RIGHT IN: OBAMA HAS MORE IN COMMON WITH THE AMERICA BASHERS THAN WITH THE READERS OF NRO OR WITH GOP VOTERS.

OBAMA REPRESENTS THE "BLAME AMERICA FIRST" WING OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY - AS KIRKPATRICK DESCRIBED IT IN 1984:

They said that saving Grenada from terror and totalitarianism was the wrong thing to do - they didn't blame Cuba or the communists for threatening American students and murdering Grenadians - they blamed the United States instead.

But then, somehow, they always blame America first.

When our Marines, sent to Lebanon on a multinational peacekeeping mission with the consent of the United States Congress, were murdered in their sleep, the "blame America first crowd" didn't blame the terrorists who murdered the Marines, they blamed the United States.

But then, they always blame America first.

When the Soviet Union walked out of arms control negotiations, and refused even to discuss the issues, the San Francisco Democrats didn't blame Soviet intransigence. They blamed the United States.

But then, they always blame America first.

When Marxist dictators shoot their way to power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies, they blame United States policies of 100 years ago.

But then, they always blame America first.

The American people know better.

They know that Ronald Reagan and the United States didn't cause Marxist dictatorship in Nicaragua, or the repression in Poland, or the brutal new offensives in Afghanistan, or the destruction of the Korean airliner, or the new attacks on religious and ethnic groups in the Soviet Union, or the jamming of western broadcasts, or the denial of Jewish emigration, or the brutal imprisonment of Anatoly Shcharansky and Ida Nudel, or the obscene treatment of Andrei Sakharov and Yelena Bonner, or the re-Stalinization of the Soviet Union.

The American people know that it's dangerous to blame ourselves for terrible problems that we did not cause.

They understand just as the distinguished French writer, Jean Francois Revel, understands the dangers of endless self- criticism and self-denigration.

He wrote: "Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself."

With the election of Ronald Reagan, the American people declared to the world that we have the necessary energy and conviction to defend ourselves, and that we have as well a deep commitment to peace.

And now, the American people, proud of our country, proud of our freedom, proud of ourselves, will reject the San Francisco Democrats and send Ronald Reagan back to the White House.

OBAMA IS NOT ONLY TAKING US DOWN THE ROAD TO SERFDOM ECONOMICALLY, HE IS ALSO TAKING US DOWN THE ROAD OF APPEASEMENT.

IT WILL END AS BADLY NOW AS IT DID IN 1980.

OR WORSE.