Plenty of irony in Obama’s takedown of Trump, Putin

A day after President Trump’s controversial sitdown with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, former President Barack Obama delivered a not-so-subtle condemnation of what he called the growing menace of “strongman politics’’ throughout the world.

According to a New York Times report, Obama warned those in attendance of the growing nationalism, xenophobia and bigotry in the United States and around the world, while offering a fullthroated defense of democracy, diversity and the liberal international order.

No one can dispute Obama’s right to offer his views on the current state of this nation’s internal affairs. However, the irony contained in Obama’s verbal takedown of his own country’s president can’t be overlooked — since he did his best to ignore the longstanding history of repression on the continent in which he delivered this impassioned defense of democratic principles.

Obama gave the keynote address at the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa, which on this occasion marked the 100th anniversary of Mandela’s birth. Certainly, there’s much to criticize about Trump’s performance in Helsinki, and as far as Democrats are concerned, his entire presidency. As for Putin, once a KGB thug, always a KGB thug; he’s a clear and present danger to the Western democracies and the entire world order. Perhaps Obama, whose father grew up in Kenya, was just playing to the home crowd by lambasting excesses elsewhere and ignoring the obvious suppression of human rights that exists throughout Africa.

It’s no doubt easier to take on easy targets overseas and disregard the inconvenient truth right at your doorstep. The former president missed a remarkable opportunity to warn the South African government and others about the threats to democracy on their own continent — of which there are many. That’s the conclusion of the annual Freedom in the World report, which ranks nations according to civil liberties and political rights. The work of the nonpartisan organization Freedom House, its 2018 report found that 75 countries sustained net declines in political rights and civil liberties, with only 35 registering gains, marking the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. Of the report’s top 20 most repressive regimes, eight can be found in Africa. The list of rogue nations includes Ethiopia (16), Libya (12), Central African Republic (11), Sudan (10), Somalia (8), Equatorial Guinea (6), Eritrea (3), and South Sudan (2). It’s worth noting that North Korea only came in at No. 4.

Some of the report’s comments should give any lover of liberty and democracy pause:

• Central African Republic: “The nation … has been in a near constant state of war since gaining independence from France in 1960.”

• Sudan: “… Corruption and violence continues to plague this country.”

• Equatorial Guinea: “With its hard-earned reputation for coups, counter coups and corruption, you would be well advised to steer clear of Equatorial Guinea.”

• South Sudan: “Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, it slid towards dictatorship and war.”

And according to the BBC, even Cyril Ramaphosa, president of the host nation South Africa since February, “inherited a struggling economy, a divided party and the problem of entrenched corruption.”

So yes, citizen Obama, it’s perfectly fine to point out the imperfections of the United States, but you missed a chance to caution a captive audience on the fragility of freedom and the descent into anarchy and dictatorship that will follow if democratic principles aren’t vigorously embraced and defended.