Obama looks for an unclenched hand - gets the finger

 AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

“We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your first." - Barack Obama

With these words from his Inaugural Address, President Obama laid the groundwork for a new approach to foreign policy in America - a policy based on the belief that treating others with "mutual respect" would win over rogue nations and make the world a more secure place.

It has long been his contention that the Bush Administration was unsuccessful in healing the divide with nations like Iraq, Iran and North Korea, due to his "my way or the highway" approach to dealing with this group that Bush would label the "axis of evil."  The naivete of Obama's understanding of the intentions of these terrorist nations, however, has become abundantly clear since Obama has become America's Commander-in-Chief.

If Iran's determination to expand their nuclear ambitions weren't evidence enough of the ineffectiveness of his "Rodney King" foreign policies - "can't we all just get along?" - the actions of North Korea since January have clearly demonstrated that they intend to take full advantage of Obama's weak foreign policy approach.

Just this weekend, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, along with launching three missiles on Memorial Day and two more today. This follows previous missile tests conducted in April of this year. And while the current set of diplomatic challenges with North Korea can be traced back to the Clinton Administration, the level of defiance exhibited by Kim Jong's government gives us a clear indication that he sees the Obama Administration as weak.

We've seen this type of "open hand" diplomacy before by another Democrat President, Jimmy Carter. It was his administration that abandoned the Shah of Iran in 1979, demanding that he step down and turn over power to the Ayatollah Khomeini. Immediately after that transfer, Khomeini had all of the Shah's military leaders executed, turning Iran into one of the most anti-American countries in the Middle East. After making the decision to admit the Shah into America, the new Iranian leadership seized the American Embassy and held the staff hostage for over a year.

It was also Jimmy Carter, acting as Bill Clinton's envoy to North Korea in 1994, who brokered a peace deal with Kim Jong II where they "agreed" to suspend their nuclear program in exchange for millions of dollars in aid for food, oil, and even a nuclear reactor. Am I the only one who sees the irony in that one?

So, now we have a President bringing back some of the failed policies of his predecessor. He has absolutely no international experience, he operates under the delusion that "talking" will accomplish what years of diplomacy, sanctions and other actions have failed to accomplish, all while these nations continue to become more dangerous than ever.  

They might unclench their fist, but it 's only to give Obama and the world the finger.

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