Former Bush Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wasn’t content with disagreeing with President Obama’s foreign policy. He felt the need to compare the first African American president to an ape.
Video of Rumsfeld on Fox News’ On The Record With Greta Van Susteren:
http://youtu.be/rRHvza-dXB0
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VAN SUSTEREN: Is there sort of a way out of this? We are having this problem now where there is going to be an election soon. I guess that’s you know the best option for the United States, that the United States get someone that is friendlier?
RUMSFELD: He was friendly. Our relationship with Karzai and with Afghanistan was absolutely first great in the Bush administration. It has gone down hill like a toboggan ever since the Obama administration came in. Now, take for example, the fact that we have status of forces agreement, probably with 100 — 125 countries in the world.
This administration, the White House and the statement department have failed to get a status of forces agreement. A trained ape can get a status of forces agreement. It does not take a genius. And we have so mismanaged that relationship. And I think that he has tried to separate his harshness against the White House and the administration from the American people and the people that he appreciates that served in that country.
Rumsfeld, as you may recall, was part of the Bush administration’s in-house axis of evil that championed the invasion of Iraq, the opening of GITMO, and torture.
Rumsfeld’s comments went beyond disagreeing on policy. He went straight for the racist dehumanization of the current President Of The United States. Beyond being disrespectful to the presidency, Donald Rumsfeld insulted the man who is holding the office.
When people on the left discuss the unparalleled hatred that Barack Obama has faced as president, this is exactly the kind of thing that they are referring to. Rumsfeld wasn’t content with just disagreeing with the president’s foreign policy. He had to make it racial. He had to compare the country’s first African American president to an ape.
What the former Bush administration officials can’t stand is that this president whom they view with contempt as illegitimate has been more successful with his foreign policy than they were with eight years of cowboy diplomacy.
There is no greater argument for the failure of the neo-conservative Bush doctrine than the presidency of Barack Obama, but Donald Rumsfeld has shown that his hatred goes deeper than politics. Rumsfeld hates this president so much that he compared him to an animal.
The ugliness and disrespect for this president know no limits. Neo-con Donald Rumsfeld can champion torture and wars of choice, but he can’t stomach the nation’s first African-American president.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
