In Burma with Aung San Suu Kyi, President Obama blunders again

Never let it be said that we fail to give the dissenting view at independentvoices.com. Over at The Daily Telegraph, a chap called Nile Gardiner has taken against President Obama, saying that he blunders relentlessly on the foreign stage, but because the media is so enamoured of him they generally fail to notice.

Here's a flavour of Gardiner's argument: "It is rather embarrassing, as well as sad, that the leader of the free world can’t even pronounce the name of the most famous human rights activist on the planet. Or that he is so quick to appease Burma’s authoritarian regime by calling it “Myanmar”. Barack Obama’s gaffes demonstrate not only a marked lack of attention to detail and a high degree of amateurishness on the part of the White House, but also a disturbing willingness to curry favour with unsavoury regimes. Hardly a good omen for Obama’s second term."

What astonishing perspicacity from the Telegraph man. It's not as if all the other things that Obama has achieved on the international stage are relevant here. No, these blunders are hardly a good omen indeed.