This past Wednesday, President Barack Obama signed an historic treaty with President Medvedev of Russia, cutting back nuclear arsenals by one third, and working to limit the access to nuclear weapons of rogue nations, such as Iran and North Korea.
Obama wants this to be the first step toward the achievement of the elimination of nuclear weapons over a generation, in order to make the world safer than it has been since the dawn of the nuclear age.
Earlier nuclear arms agreements were signed by Presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan and the first President Bush, so this is just another step toward the ultimate goal of saving the world from nuclear annihilation. This should be applauded, but instead, conservative talk radio and Fox News Channel and Republicans in Congress are attacking the treaty as unwise and counterproductive.
This is not some left wing “radical” move, as the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen have endorsed what Obama has done. Would anyone say either man is “soft” on our national defenses? Of course not! It is just part of the same, old, hysterical, irresponsible rhetoric that has been promoted by the opposition throughout this administration’s short history, with the opposition forgetting that President Reagan made it a major goal, publicly, to work toward the end of nuclear weapons. So Obama is fulfilling part of the goal of a President very different than he was in his direction and tone in office!
But try to tell that to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who criticized and ridiculed the President’s ability and knowledge in the area of nuclear weapons, as if she has any expertise at all on ANYTHING in international affairs, let alone domestic affairs! 🙁
President Obama’s reaction was to say that he would more likely listen to his military advisers than to Sarah Palin! 🙂 Well said, Mr. President! 🙂