By Bill O'Reilly
The Obama/Putin situation is a life lesson for all of us. If you show weakness in your life, evil people will take advantage. That will happen. But there is a difference between weakness and restraint -- and therein lies the real story of President Obama's foreign policy.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused great harm to this country on a number of levels. Every fair-minded person knows that. America's motivations were not bad, but the outcome certainly did not strengthen the country.
So, when President Obama took office, he won a detente with the world, playing up America is part of the big mosaic rather than the lone super power policemen. To many Americans that sounded great, to others it sounded weak.
Over the years, Mr. Obama has been confronted with evil. The Mullahs in Iran, for example, trying to develop a nuclear weapon. If they do so, the world will be in grave danger because (inaudible) jihadists would certainly use nukes if they could.
In 2010 President Obama warned Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Now as Iran's leaders continue to ignore their obligations there should be no doubt they too will face growing consequences. That is a promise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: To his credit, the President led sanctions against Iran but to his discredit, he pulled the sanctions too early. And now nobody knows what will happen with Iran's nukes.
In Syria, the tyrant Assad killed innocent civilians by gassing them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command the world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. And if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Again Assad did use the weapons but there were no consequences. And he has not been held accountable. That's weakness.
Finally, Putin's aggression in Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: What I have said consistently is that each time Russia takes these kinds of steps that are designed to destabilize Ukraine and violate their sovereignty that there are going to be consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: But again, there have been few consequences for Putin and the situation could erupt into war at any time.
The truth is that at this point in history, President Obama is powerless, powerless to stop evil aggression. It's not his fault alone. His party, the Democrats, want no part of confrontation and some Republicans are isolationists as well. Generally speaking, there is no will in America to fight evil unless we're directly attacked. The result is danger and a weakening of presidential power.
Mr. Obama is seen around the world as a man who will accommodate not right and wrongs. Therefore the power of America has declined. We cannot stop aggression, our allies are not confident we will help them if they get into trouble.
The situation we have now is almost exactly the same as what President Jimmy Carter experienced in the late 1970s. The question is will the next president be able to restore American power as Ronald Reagan did?
And that's "The Memo"
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