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Obama Said Something Embarrassingly Wrong About Ukraine

Obama bro-hugs ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2010. (AP)
October 13, 2015

President Obama said something bizarre about foreign policy during his appearance on 60 Minutes over the weekend. Pressed by Stever Kroft on whether Vladimir Putin's aggressive actions in Ukraine and Syria (where Russian bombers are targeting U.S.-backed forces) posed a "challenge" to his leadership, the president rejected the premise of the question [emphasis added]:

Steve Kroft: A year ago when we did this interview, there was some saber-rattling between the United States and Russia on the Ukrainian border. Now it's also going on in Syria. You said a year ago that the United States-- America leads. We're the indispensable nation. Mr. Putin seems to be challenging that leadership.

President Barack Obama: In what way? Let-- let's think about this-- let-- let--

Steve Kroft: Well, he's moved troops into Syria, for one. He's got people on the ground. Two, the Russians are conducting military operations in the Middle East for the first time since World War II.

President Barack Obama: So that's-- so that's --

Steve Kroft: bombing the people-- that we are supporting.

President Barack Obama: So that's leading, Steve? Let me ask you this question. When I came into office-- Ukraine was governed by a corrupt ruler who was a stooge of Mr. Putin. Syria was Russia's only ally in the region. And today, rather than being able to count on their support and maintain the base they had in Syria, which they've had for a long time. Mr. Putin now is devoting- his own troops, his own military, just to barely hold together by a thread his sole ally. And in Ukraine--

Steve Kroft: He's challenging your leadership, Mr. President. He's challenging your leadership-

President Barack Obama: Well-- Steve, I got to tell you, if you think that running your economy into the ground and having to send troops in, in order to prop up your only ally is leadership, then we've got a different definition of leadership. My definition of leadership would be leading on climate change.

Obama's efforts to defend his foreign policy record are astonishing. Sure, if Putin's ultimate goals are growing the Russian middle class, improving relations with the West, and forging international consensus on climate change, then it would be fair to say that he's failing to lead. You might be inclined to describe Obama's remarks as a "pretty sick burn." On the other hand, maybe those aren't Putin's primary goals. His definition of leadership presumably differs from Obama's.

In the course of trying to defend his actions, Obama said something embarrassingly wrong about Ukraine (highlighted above). The "corrupt ruler" he is presumably referring to is Victor Yanukovych, the former Ukrainian president who fled the country in 2014 following months of violent clashes between riot police and protestors upset over Yanukovych's surprise decision to back out of a trade agreement with the European Union. The actual Ukrainian president when Obama took office was Viktor Yushchenko, a Western-oriented Putin critic who survived an apparent assassination attempt. So he's either being willfully dishonest in an effort to deflect criticism, or president smartypants isn't living up to his reputation.

Yanukovych was elected president in 2010, after Obama was elected. Obama should know, because he publicly congratulated Yanukovych on his victory before his opponent, Yulia Tymoshenko, had conceded. "This peaceful expression of the political will of Ukrainian voters is another positive step in strengthening democracy in Ukraine," the White House said in a statement. The two leaders met a few months later to discuss U.S.-Ukrainian relations. According to a joint statement, President Obama "reconfirmed that the security assurances recorded in the Budapest Memorandum with Ukraine of December 5, 1994, remain in effect." These security assurances—against threats to the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine—proved meaningless when Russia forcibly annexed Crimea and covertly invaded East Ukraine, and the United States responded by being deeply concerned.

It sounds a lot better for Obama to suggest that Yanukovych was already in power and acting like a Putin stooge when he came into office in 2009; it implies that his leadership had something to do with the fact that Ukrainians revolted and removed Yanukovych from power. It ignores the fact that Putin's actions exposed his unwillingness to honor treaties and U.S. security guarantees in Eastern Europe, and it almost certainly won't be the last time.