Two cheers for President Obama’s ‘freedom agenda’

Foreign Policy has two cheers for President Obama for the “freedom agenda” he took the United Nations last week.

Why not three cheers? While presidential rhetoric matters, to have enduring meaning it must be backed up by action. As strong as it was as a statement of principles, President Obama's speech did not point to a policy course going forward. Tellingly, the first third of his speech in the “what we have done” section reviewing his first two years contained not a word on the cause of freedom. It was only in the looking ahead, “what are we trying to build” section at the end that he turned to human rights and democracy.

Obama’s words were probably his most impassioned comments in the defense of freedom.

One of the first actions of this General Assembly was to adopt a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. That Declaration begins by stating that, “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.”

The idea is a simple one -- that freedom, justice and peace for the world must begin with freedom, justice, and peace in the lives of individual human beings. And for the United States, this is a matter of moral and pragmatic necessity. As Robert Kennedy said, “the individual man, the child of God, is the touchstone of value, and all society, groups, the state, exist for his benefit.” So we stand up for universal values because it’s the right thing to do. But we also know from experience that those who defend these values for their people have been our closest friends and allies, while those who have denied those rights -- whether terrorist groups or tyrannical governments -- have chosen to be our adversaries.

Human rights have never gone unchallenged -- not in any of our nations, and not in our world. Tyranny is still with us -- whether it manifests itself in the Taliban killing girls who try to go to school, a North Korean regime that enslaves its own people, or an armed group in Congo-Kinshasa that use rape as a weapon of war.

In times of economic unease, there can also be an anxiety about human rights. Today, as in past times of economic downturn, some put human rights aside for the promise of short term stability or the false notion that economic growth can come at the expense of freedom. We see leaders abolishing term limits. We see crackdowns on civil society. We see corruption smothering entrepreneurship and good governance. We see democratic reforms deferred indefinitely.

As I said last year, each country will pursue a path rooted in the culture of its own people. Yet experience shows us that history is on the side of liberty; that the strongest foundation for human progress lies in open economies, open societies, and open governments. To put it simply, democracy, more than any other form of government, delivers for our citizens.

Great stuff. I have to wonder who wrote that section of the speech. I hope Obama came up with it on his own, but I know it’s not his forte. In any case, the president chose to deliver that message, and he represented us well.

At Foreign Policy, William Inboden says Obama should use his influence to advance freedom’s cause in several nations, particularly in China, Russia, North Korea, Egypt, Cuba, Belarus, Iran, Eritrea and Vietnam.

Ideas do matter. Each American president has a duty to serve the idea of freedom by preserving, protecting and defending it, first, by giving it voice, then by action. 

Frank Warner

Comments

[klonorg]

can someone name the last time Obama has spoken for at least 5 minutes without a teleprompter? We know what he has read (just like a news anchor). We know some of what he has done. Who knows what he thinks.

Really.

What has he said without a telepromter?

[Kevin]

You are aware that he's trying to get a law passed so that he can spy on anyone in America whenever he or his cohorts feel like it, right?

He's an ass, and I'll be happy when he's gone.

[CJW]

He talks freedom, yet acts against it.

He is a damn disgrace.