New York Times "Talking Truth to NATO": More Hypocrisy from Obama

In an editorial entitled "Talking Truth to NATO" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/opinion/11sat1.html), The New York Times commends outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates for publicly criticizing America's allies which have not done their fair share in the struggle against Qaddafi. The editorial states:

"Fewer than half of NATO’s 28 members are taking part in the military mission. Fewer than a third are participating in the all-important airstrikes. British and French aircraft carry the main burden. Canada, Belgium, Norway and Denmark, despite limited resources, have made outsized contributions. Turkey, with the alliance’s second-largest military, has remained largely on the sidelines. Germany, NATO’s biggest historic beneficiary, has done nothing at all."

Well, this didn't stop President Obama from hosting German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a gala Rose Garden dinner on Tuesday and presenting Merkel with the Presidential Medal of Freedom before more than 200 VIP guests.

I suppose freedom doesn't apply to Libya.

But Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize, and what has he achieved?

Then, too, Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson in 2009, despite her meetings with Hamas, her historic antagonism to the U.S., and her involvement in the 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban, which degenerated into an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hate fest.

Obama and Robinson, a Haunting Picture

Over the past two weeks I spent far too many hours at airports and on airplanes, watching sunsets and sunrises, consumed with thoughts about work and family. I also stood in a hospital waiting room as my father underwent three surgical procedures that caused this veteran of two wars, World War II and Korea, a level of pain that morphine could not subdue. And throughout this anguish, somewhere in my subconscious, lingered the picture of Mary Robinson grinning like a Cheshire cat as a smug Barack Obama draped the Presidential Medal of Freedom around her neck.

Mary Robinson, the former U.N. high commissioner for human rights and a former president of Ireland (a ceremonial office), who orchestrated the 2001 Durban conference, a hate fest which spun beyond Robinson's control, received the highest civilian honor in the United States. Her picture with Obama is one that I will never forget.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Robinson was being awarded the medal because she was a prominent advocate for women's rights in her country and around the world. You don't say? When did Robinson ever visit the Palestinian Authority to decry a grizzly "honor killing"?

But more to the point, who decided to award this honor to Robinson? John Bolton stated in his August 11 article in The Wall Street Journal:

"Those in the administration who recommended her either ignored her anti-Israel history, or missed it entirely, as they either ignored or overlooked her hostility toward America’s role in promoting international peace and security. Or perhaps they share Ms. Robinson’s views."

Query: Was it "those in the administration" who ignored "her anti-Israel history" and "hostility toward America's role in promoting international peace", or was it Obama himself? Is Obama still a radical wolf dressed by Axelrod in moderate sheep's clothing?

Personally, it was a wake up call, a stinging slap in the face. If there had been any doubts concerning Obama's "indifference" toward Israel, here in this photograph lay the answer.