The Obama Take on Iran and Yom Kippur: Too Little, Too Late

When President Obama spoke Tuesday to the United Nations, he made a point of denouncing, yet again, as “an insult not only to Muslims, but to America as well” the “crude and disgusting video” — a.k.a. the brief clip produced by a private individual exercising the right to free speech. But Obama made no mention whatsoever of the gross official insult to all decent people involved  in the UN not only welcoming Iran’s anti-semitic pro-genocide President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yet again to the UN General Assembly in New York, but scheduling Ahmadinejad’s speech on the Jewish high holy day of Yom Kippur.

On Yom Kippur itself, the U.S. Mission to the UN finally got around to mentioning the matter, putting out a two-sentence statement noting that Ahmadinejad has once again been using his trip to the UN to “spout paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel.” The U.S. statement goes on to say “It’s particularly unfortunate that Mr. Ahmadinejad will have the platform of the UN General Assembly on Yom Kippur, which is why the United States has decided not to attend.”

Talk about too little, too late. What a pity that Obama couldn’t have shoehorned that statement into his UN address, or at least wedged it into his chat with Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters et al, while bringing his White House gift basket of napkins and golf balls to The View.