Obama's New Pick for U.N. Ambassador

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 20, 2013
All Rights Reserved.                                      

             Picking 42-year-old Dublin-born, Pulizter-Prize-winning author Samantha Power to replace outgoing Amb. Susan Rice, President Barack Obama reached deep inside his U.S. Senate office and presidential campaign to tap one of the best-and-brightest.  Power’s credentials read like a who’s who power broker, graduating Yale University, working as a U.S. News & World Report journalist covering the Balkan wars, before returning attend and graduate from Harvard Law School in 1999.  She joined the 2008 Obama campaign as a foreign policy advisor, having spent much of her journalistic career covering genocide.  He Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “A Problem from Hell:  America and the Age of Genocide,” bolstered her foreign policy chops.  After a brief stint at the State Department, Samantha was joined the National Security Council running the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Human Rights [2009-2013].

             Considered a slam-dunk for U.N. ambassador, Power said all the right things today in her confirmation hearing, calling the lack of action in the U.N. Security Council a “disgrace” to deal with the ongoing Syrian civilian massacre.  Power blasted the U.N. Security Council for failing to act to stave off the estimated 90,000 dead since the civil war began March 11, 2011.  “We see the failure of the U.N. Security Council to respond to the slaughter in Syria—a disgrace that history will judge harshly,” Power told the committee.  Her views on Syria have won her the backing of ranking member Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), both of whom have advocated military action against al-Assad.  When Obama defied Russia’s wishes and signaled June 14 he’d send military aid to Syrian rebels, he won the plaudits of hawkish Republicans on Capitol Hill.

             Saying the U.S. needed to be “clear-eyed” about persuading Russia and China on Syria, Power mentioned nothing about how Obama’s June 14 decision to send military aid to Syrian rebels hurt U.S. clout on the Security Council.  Had Barack simply maintained diplomatic ambiguity he would received National Security Agency leader Edward Snowden on a silver platter.  Once Barack committed to military aid, Russian President Vladimir Putin said “nyet” to handing over Snowden.  Blaming the failure on the U.N. Security Council won’t make friends in the very body she hopes one day to have some clout.  Russia and China have their own strategic interests in maintaining Bashar al-Assad in power, including what’s left of regional security, something threatened by advancing various Wahhabi rebel groups.  “Nobody is satisfied at where we are today,” said Power, stating the obvious.

             Power’s past statements on Israel came back to haunt her.  Interviewed by liberal Berkeley professor Harry Kreisler in 2002, Power sounded incoherent.  “What we need is a willingness to actually put something on the line in the service of helping the situation,” Power told Kreisler, implying that the U.S. needed to lean more on Israel. Less than one year from watching Palestinians dance in the streets celebrating Sept. 11, Power implies that the U.S. has to take a hard line on Israel.  “And putting something on the line might means alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import,” referring, of course, to “the Jews.”  When the World Trade Center and Pentagon smoldered, it was Israel that had the U.S. back, helping stage a response to the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.  Calling her response a “long, rambling and remarkably incoherent response,” Power takes no responsibility.

             Throwing her support behind tough action in Syria won Power McCain’s backing to replace Rice as U.N. ambassador.  Attributing her illogical public remarks to “long, rambling and remarkably incoherent response” doesn’t give much reassurance about what she’ll say in the future.  Whether Power had a low blood sugar attack or some mental seizure is anyone’s guess.  If confirmed as U.N. ambassador, she won’t have the luxury of making the same gaffes.  “There are things that I have written that I would have written very differently today,” Power told the committee.  While it’s humbling to hear about her regrettable public remarks, it’s not too reassuring to blame everything on her youth-and-inexperience or, worse yet, unknown reasons.  Joining McCain’s madness over Syria isn’t enough to reassure doubters that Power, like her predecessor, won’t be prone toward non sequiturs.

             Whatever Power’s past accomplishments, she must show some independent thinking on the Middle East and Syria.  Any cursory understanding of the Arab-Israeli controversy knows that Israel isn’t to blame for the fratricidal and genocidal problems in the Middle East.  In a post-Sept. 11 world, Power must realize that there can be no placating of terrorists, including those hiding behind Islam or pan-Arabism.  When you consider that Hamas leader in exile Khalid Meshaal, who lived in Damascus for 20 years at the good graces of the al-Assad family, has now joined the Saudi-funded Wahhabi war to overthrow the Syrian government.  If Power’s really an expert on genocide, she should look at the Sunni history of liquidating Shiite regimes, especially al-Assad’s tiny Alawite minority.  While Power’s a shoe-in for confirmation, she needs to do her homework and think for herself.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.