LA Times calls Obama’s ‘lack of moral clarity’ on Armenian Genocide ‘cowardice’

By Asbarez | Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Los Angeles Times columnis, Tim Rutten

LOS ANGELES—In a timely piece in Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times, columnist Tim Rutten explores what he calls President Obama’s “lack of moral clarity” on the Armenian Genocide issue, arguing that Obama has put aside “clarity in an effort to maintain the support of Armenian Americans while not offending Turkey.”

Rutten discusses last week’s events at the State Capitol and Congress marking the 96th anniversary of the Genocide and points out that participants at both events did not hear a message from Obama, or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “acknowledging the historical reality of the genocide.”

“That’s because,” Rutten writes “this administration, like its predecessors, is straddling a fine line — one that, more than ever, appears to be a distinction without a difference.”

“It’s an act of expediency that bites with particular sharpness because candidate Obama declared that “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide.” This raises the question of why President Obama declines to do so and why this administration opposes the resolution,” writes Rutten.

The author also points out that Obama’s current posturing “is not prudence but cowardice.

Read Tim Rutten’s commentary here.