On the May 29 edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box, Richard Engel, NBC’s chief foreign correspondent, conceded that he could not name a single nation where relations have improved with the United States since President Obama took office six years ago. Engel generally stays above the political fray, so this admission about the president’s foreign policy is revealing.
Responding to further questioning by Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, Engel asserted that the reason why relations with foreign nations haven’t improved is due to the fact that “our allies have become confused.”
Responding to further questioning by Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, Engel asserted that the reason why relations with foreign nations haven’t improved is due to the fact that “our allies have become confused.”
Engel went on to elaborate on a very common argument against this president’s foreign policy; that, oftentimes, it lacks purpose and seems aimless:
You now have a president who is pulling out very rapidly. And that is creating a kind of pump action, a vortex of instability that has left allies like Saudi Arabia, like Egypt, like even some European countries very confused. Are we going in? Are we pulling out? Are we leading? Are we trying to set the agenda? There has been a lot of frustration.
In 2009, Engel was quick to note how receptive the Muslim world was to Obama’s speech in Cairo. Now, it seems the reporter has done a 180, recognizing not simply that the president’s foreign policy has largely failed to ingratiate America with the Islamic world, but that the Middle East in now in a state of chaos:
Right now we have a black hole in Syria. Iraq is in a state of collapse. Libya is about to go back into a civil war. And this was the one case where we intervened militarily. So I think there is a lot of problems on the horizon in the foreign policy world just because you are off-ramping in Afghanistan.
It is certainly a positive sign that at least some in the media are taking a more critical look at the president’s foreign policy, although it remains to be seen how much of this will work it’s way into Engel’s reporting. CNBC has nowhere near the viewership as the NBC Nightly News.
Too often the media are unwilling to admit their mistakes, but Engel did so here–albeit tacitly. Being unable to name a single nation with which U.S. relations have improved is quite a powerful indication– as Mr. Langone noted– about the president’s foreign policy.
Below is a transcript from a portion of the Squawk Box segment . . . . . . . . . .
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/connor-williams/2014/05/29/nbcs-richard-engel-us-relations-have-not-improved-single-nation-dur#ixzz33AneHOipToo often the media are unwilling to admit their mistakes, but Engel did so here–albeit tacitly. Being unable to name a single nation with which U.S. relations have improved is quite a powerful indication– as Mr. Langone noted– about the president’s foreign policy.
Below is a transcript from a portion of the Squawk Box segment . . . . . . . . . .
Editor's notes: Maybe, just maybe, many of us on the Right (me included) need to rethink the notion that there is no sense of patriotism and allegiance to our founding principles, on the Left. We might begin by admitting that the big government/small government debate has been THE classic American debate, from its very beginnings.
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