Hey look! Pres. Barack HUSSEIN Obama shook hands with Raul Castro at Mandela’s funeral! Clearly, this is the end of America.
Of course, Obama gave a speech at the funeral and this section was obviously aimed directly at leaders like Castro:
We know that, like South Africa, the United States had to overcome centuries of racial subjugation. As was true here, it took sacrifice — the sacrifice of countless people, known and unknown, to see the dawn of a new day. Michelle and I are beneficiaries of that struggle. (Applause.) But in America, and in South Africa, and in countries all around the globe, we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not yet done.But you know, calling out oppressive government leaders to their face is meaningless if you shake their hand too. Obama should’ve lifted a page from Ronald Reagan, who beat Mikhail Gorbachev mercilessly every time he saw him or — or Donald Rumsfeld, who once killed Saddam Hussein dead.
The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality or universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important. For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger and disease. We still see run-down schools. We still see young people without prospects for the future. Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs, and are still persecuted for what they look like, and how they worship, and who they love. That is happening today. (Applause.)
And so we, too, must act on behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of peace. There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality. There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people. (Applause.) And there are too many of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard.
You can only see this as some sort of pro-Castro move if you ignore everything Obama said at that event and ignore how it was meant to publicly shame Raul Castro and others like him. As always, the Wingnut Outrage of the Day is weak, dishonest, and tiresome — but this time especially so.
