There was plenty of concern after Election Day that Barack Obama just wouldn’t be able to keep quiet about the Trump administration, and although he’s said a word or two, it’s been nothing compared to the words of wisdom shared by the former U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations who served under him.
No, we don’t remember asking for a lecture on credibility from Susan “YouTube” Rice, and the last person anyone wanted to hear from about the dangers of enabling the Assad regime in Syria was former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power. Nevertheless, they persisted.
Power felt compelled to speak up Saturday after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced the completion of President Trump’s arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
In Saudi Arabia @POTUS has just completed largest single arms deal in US history, negotiating a package totaling more than $109.7 billion
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) May 20, 2017
For a country whose attacks on civilians in Yemen — and inability to learn from mistakes — have been devastating to human life https://t.co/iXudoN8In3
— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) May 20, 2017
Why yes, the inability to learn from mistakes was devastating to human life, but we’re not talking about Obama and his meaningless red lines here.
Whatever you say Sam https://t.co/pOL5wOTn8K
— TheRightWingM ?? (@TheRightWingM) May 20, 2017
In today's edition of Self Awareness we give you the foremost example of how-not-to.
— Ed Kirwan (@EKDramatist) May 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/DavidKenner/status/865958295516958720
https://twitter.com/schwabsyy/status/865991505726623744
… not even a lousy hashtag campaign? But there’s a big difference between Obama’s arms deal and Trump’s and the New York Times wants readers to know it:
The package includes "weaponry that Mr. Obama had held up over concerns that it would be used to kill civilians…" https://t.co/wmzd93nfS0
— Kim Masters (@kimmasters) May 20, 2017
That turned out well.
Helping the Saudis bomb and starve civilians in Yemen is President Obama's greatest sin.
— Mary Michel Green (@marymichelgreen) May 20, 2017
Yeah, and sat by quietly while they invaded and occupied Bahrain. One of the darkest stains on the Obama administration.
— Julian Furman (@julianefurman) May 20, 2017
Not to defend the Saudis, but you're leaving out that Iran is in Yemen. But then you & the Admin you represented love Iranian oppression.
— Mark Jacobs (@mr_markjacobs) May 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/nowwaat/status/865961676692111360
https://twitter.com/khalidh/status/865967106873077760
If you served in the Obama admin & are now criticizing Trump for sucking up to Saudi & ignoring human rights, you need to slow your roll.
— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) May 20, 2017
There are plenty of cases of the Obama team setting aside human rights issues to cozy up to authoritarian regimes. Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi …
— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) May 20, 2017
Sure they'd pay lip service to human rights, democracy & all that, but ultimately they played the same game — for the "national interest."
— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) May 20, 2017
Even Trump travel ban is rooted in part in Obama's willingness to allow nationality-based discrimination for visas. https://t.co/Vuoz593CZP
— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) May 20, 2017
I mean, seriously, @SamanthaJPower is complaining today about Saudi war in Yemen when Obama admin backed them in that fight to start with.
— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) May 20, 2017
She watched a genocide unfold in Syria from her office at the UN. https://t.co/iSlVdLGevJ
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) May 20, 2017
Does anyone remember when Obama cut short a trip to India to rush to Saudi after the king there died? https://t.co/tVpjzMjHUe
— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) May 20, 2017
Yep. Joe Biden had been on deck to do what vice presidents do, but the president insisted on paying his respects in person.
Yeah, governance is hard, I know. But so is sticking to your principles. Will we ever see an administration that can do both? I can't wait.
— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) May 20, 2017
You talked an awful lot but achieved nothing substantive during your time in office.
— AlphaFoxtrot (@AlphaFoxtrot2k) May 20, 2017
She did have a family of Syrian refugees over for dinner one night at her penthouse apartment in New York; that was something.
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Related:
SHAMELESS: Samantha Power ‘should really stay silent’ about this (but she didn’t) https://t.co/U7cCRBOILE
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 5, 2017
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