A good summary of President Obama’s speech over at Enough. John Norris writes: “Most of [the speech] remained at the 30,000 foot level without getting into specifics.”
That’s exactly right. Regarding Sudan, we weren’t expecting the President to lay out the nitty-gritty of his Administration’s Sudan policy. We accept that a UN General Assembly stage demands a kind of higher-level presentation. Nonetheless, you can take a look at President Obama’s words on Sudan and judge for yourself:
“That is why we will strengthen our support for effective peacekeeping, while energizing our efforts to prevent conflicts before they take hold. We will pursue a lasting peace in Sudan through support for the people of Darfur, and the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, so that we secure the peace that the Sudanese people deserve.”
With so many heads of state and other world leaders in the UN gallery, we were hoping that the President would express forthrightly what we all know: the Sudanese government continues to commit genocide against its own people. Such language would not have been cowboy talk. Rather, it would have sent Omar al-Bashir and his inner circle an appropriate warning of “stop-or-else”: stop disabling the humanitarian system in Darfur, stop your continued violence against civilians; and stop reneging on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement — or else you will face severe consequences, including targeted multilateral sanctions.
Of course, President Obama has a team to speak for him. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and Sudan Special Envoy Scott Gration can all speak about Sudan’s tragedies and what the U.S. must do to end these tragedies. However, when the issue is ongoing genocide, the bullhorn should reside with the person who can change everything. The people of Sudan deserve as much. The people of Sudan need the President to lead now.
