Not Getting It; Obama loses touch with reality, supporting Turkey’s EU push

How many times have we discussed President Barack Obama’s desire to intrude on the average American’s life? Remember all that talk about keeping thermostats down and SUVs off the road? I do…

He is the President of the United States, he isn’t the “King of the continent” (no matter what the Press says), and neither he nor his ilk have the legal authority to reach into the boardrooms of America and decide who is and isn’t fired. If he isn’t telling Americans, NORTH Americans what to do, he is telling the Europeans what they should be doing. Instead of putting the pressure on at the G20 summit to ensure NATO support for the Afghanistan mission (which he failed at by the way), he is insisting that the European Union admit Turkey as a full member. Urgh, it is getting harder and harder to even defend any of his actions anymore…

You have to understand that the majority of us on the center-right/right are growing frustrated with these demands to “give Obama a chance” when all he does is prove that we were correct about him not being worthy of the position of President. Take for example his royal visit, or even Gordon Brown’s visit to America, it is almost as if he went out of his way to offend the British. Continuing this trend as he travels the continent, the “Great-Uniter” was further alienating the United States from its European allies by inserting himself into EU politics. As Spiegel Onine is reporting, the mood in Europe has been soured by Obama’s “meddling”…

During his stay in Europe, everybody seemed eager to be President Barack Obama’s friend… Now that Obama is in Turkey, however, some political camps — particularly in Germany — have discovered the political efficacy of Obama bashing. While in Ankara, Obama reiterated his support for Turkish membership in the European Union, a position he first voiced on Sunday in Prague. That doesn’t sit well with some.

“Turkey is bound to Europe by more than bridges over the Bosporus,” Obama told the Turkish parliament on Monday. “Centuries of shared history, culture and commerce bring you together. And Turkish membership would broaden and strengthen Europe’s foundation once more.”

It is a sentiment not universally shared in Europe. On Monday, a number of politicians, particularly in Germany, went on the offensive. “It is a meddling in the internal affairs of Europe,” Bernd Posselt, a member of the European Parliament from Bavarian’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), blustered in an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE. “The EU is not Obama’s plaything. … He should accept Turkey as America’s 51st state instead,” he continued.

Markus Ferber, the CSU’s lead candidate in European Parliament elections set for early June, echoed his party colleague. “There is no question that the US has a voice in NATO. But when it comes to membership in its own club, the EU decides by itself,” he said. “We don’t need any tutoring from abroad.”

This isn’t surprising at all. For someone who has spent so much time apologizing for America’s “arrogance” and the alleged “sins” of the Bush administration, he sure come off as arrogant and prideful himself. If it isn’t his “invasionary sized force” he brought with him to London, it is his declaration of opinion on the sensitive subject of Turkey’s membership in the EU. It isn’t just that he announced his side on the issue, but that he simply lacks the education on it. Anyone who has put in the time to study this issue should at least know that Europe “proper” doesn’t share a “culture” with Turkey, for the most part it didn’t even share a religious identity with this once Muslim nation.

For starters, as Obama most likely doesn’t know, is that the European Union is very much a “United States of Europe”. This means it isn’t simply an economic union (the Euro being the currency for most states), but a social/political one as well. Full membership into the EU means that certain rights are awarded to the citizenry, like free movement between member countries for the sake of travel, but also the right to work anywhere within the union (there is far more rights that these dictated by the various treaties signed over the years, but for the sake of discussing the situation of Turkey, let’s stick to these two). EU citizenship allows a worker to take up residence anywhere within the union they can get employment. In this respect, the European Union has an identifiable political border for which only the citizenry within are given these rights. This “closed border” makes free movement for workers outside the EU nearly impossible. This system is put in place to not only protect the Union’s interests, but the interests of each individual member country. As Germany discovered when it opened its doors to Turkish workers a few decades ago, the free movement of labour can be a “curse” as these foreign workers refused to leave. This is where the troubles start…

If granted full membership into the EU, Turkish citizens will be allowed to work wherever they wish within the Union, taking up residency in any one of the twenty-seven member countries (in theory, in reality many members still maintain sovereignty in such a respect, like the United Kingdom). This poses a problem since these workers bring cultural baggage far removed from that of many European countries. This creates a slew of social/political issues addressing the acceptance/tolerance of a particular country to the cultural/religious practices of these new citizens. Many countries in Europe are struggling with Islam-related issues, as was seen in France following ban on hijabs and other “conspicuous” religious symbols in state schools, and the situation would get worse with more Muslims taking up residence in these affected countries. On top of that, it is also a safety issue. With Germany having its hand full with battling terrorism with its own borders, other countries might fall victim to home-grown terrorism as Turkey would become a jumping off point for radicals looking to establish themselves within the European Union. Britain itself is still seen as a security threat to its neighbours, that it would become a jumping-off point to the European Union because of the radicalism growing within its borders, but this would pale in comparison to Turkey being a full member of the EU as many have stated that border security is nearly non-existent. Forget America’s safety, Europe’s security under Obama’s leadership would be forfeited.

There are a variety of other issues as well, along with that fact that Turkey’s population itself would distabilize power within the EU, granting the country enormous voting power, far exceeding Germany and France, which Obama obviously didn’t seem to be educated on before making this statement. Coming from a man who believes Austrian is a language, we shouldn’t be surprised that he isn’t versed on European politics. His lack of knowledge on international issues was raised during the election, and his critics had a laugh when he couldn’t decide who he wanted to condemn during the Georgia Crisis last year, so this is merely an continuation of his ignorance and arrogance on the international stage. He had no place making any statement on who the EU allows in, and yet he couldn’t help himself from making a pointless gesture to Turkey at the expense of relations with the United States’ European allies. He isn’t a “world citizen”, he is an American President and he should start acting like one…

Until the Press starts hammering him (which they obviously haven’t been doing), Obama will continue thinking he is the “King of the World” with the power to do as he pleases. A man so wrapped up in his own importance that he has lost touch with the reality we face in a Post-9/11 world… He isn’t a “King”, he doesn’t even deserve the “crown” he wears…

UPDATE: Well people are still talking about this “Jimmy Carter-esk” performance President Obama gave during his European visit. Ed Morrissey is covering his ill-thought bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, as well as Newt Gingrich’s interview on Fox News about the “The One’s” poor performance abroad. Allahpundit from Hot Air and Michelle Malkin are covering this new push for “geoengineering” (what?) coming from the Obama administration. Seems there still is a lot to be concerned about considering that this new President still doesn’t get it, still doesn’t understand that reality and his world view differ greatly…

So much to blog, so little time…