Video: Obama Receives Only Tepid Applause at West Point

Upon his introduction at the graduation ceremony at the US Military Academy at West Point, Obama, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, received only a light smattering of applause with an aborted attempt at standing O by a small handful in the audience and none of the cadets.

Here is what the military thinks of a president who abandons a Marine held in a Mexican prison for taking a wrong turn, neglects the VA, shuts out veterans from national memorials during shut-down theater, forces suicidal RoE on the military, lies about Benghazi, takes full credit for killing Osama Bin Laden after preparing to blame the military if anything went wrong, and then leaks information that leads to Navy Seal deaths, and then sends their parents form-letter condolence notes signed with an auto-pen:

Full speech, here.

Just by way of comparison, here’s how West Point cadets reacted to President Bush when he spoke before the academy in December of 2008 – that would have been at possibly the lowest ebb of his popularity as president.

Note the cheers and the standing O by the Cadets who had to be told by their Commander in Chief to sit down.

Via the Daily Mail, here are the bullet points from Obama’s speech: I’m NOT WEAK: Obama answers critics in West Point speech and insists the US must lead the world by example – ‘If we don’t, no one else will’

‘I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being,’ the president insisted
Yet he used the words ‘partner’ and ‘partnership’ 16 times in his speech at West Point, outlining a contradictory foreign policy
Obama replaced the phrase ‘collective action’ – in his prepared remarks – with the words ‘multilateral action’ several times
Working through NATO and the UN will dominate American foreign policy, Obama said: ‘This is American leadership, American strength

Obama: “~~communal~~, uh – I mean ~~collective,~~ oops! uh – I mean multilateral action….”

Obama called for diplomacy and ‘multilateral action’ in the face of global threats. His prepared remarks, distributed by the White House, replaced that phrase with the words ‘collective action.’

Receiving tepid applause and a short standing ovation from less than one-quarter of the audience upon his introduction, Obama argued for a contradictory foreign policy that relies on NATO and the United Nations while insisting that ‘America must always lead on the world stage.’

‘If we don’t, no one else will,’ he insisted.

But ‘we require partners,’ he said, using the words ‘partner’ or ‘partnership’ 16 times in his speech.

UPDATE:

Wow, his speech stunk so bad, Obama even lost the Washington Post editorial board: At West Point, President Obama binds America’s hands on foreign affairs:

PRESIDENT OBAMA has retrenched U.S. global engagement in a way that has shaken the confidence of many U.S. allies and encouraged some adversaries. That conclusion can be heard not just from Republican hawks but also from senior officials from Singapore to France and, more quietly, from some leading congressional Democrats. As he has so often in his political career, Mr. Obama has elected to respond to the critical consensus not by adjusting policy but rather by delivering a big speech.

In his address Wednesday to the graduating cadets at West Point , Mr. Obama marshaled a virtual corps of straw men, dismissing those who “say that every problem has a military solution,” who “think military intervention is the only way for America to avoid looking weak,” who favor putting “American troops into the middle of [Syria’s] increasingly sectarian civil war,” who propose “invading every country that harbors terrorist networks” and who think that “working through international institutions . . . or respecting international law is a sign of weakness.”

During the 2014 West Point commencement address, President Obama declared that the U.S. remains the world’s most indispensable nation, even after a “long season of war,” but argued for restraint before embarking on more military adventures.

Few, if any, of those who question the president’s record hold such views. Instead, they are asking why an arbitrary date should be set for withdrawing all forces from Afghanistan, especially given the baleful results of the “zero option” in Iraq. They are suggesting that military steps short of the deployment of U.S. ground troops could stop the murderous air and chemical attacks by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. They are arguing that the United States should not be constrained by Cyprus or Bulgaria in responding to Russia’s invasion and annexation of parts of Ukraine.

UPDATE II:

Oof. Obama’s speech stunk so bad, he even lost his liberal fan base at the editorial board of the NYTs: President Obama Misses a Chance on Foreign Affairs

President Obama and his aides heralded his commencement speech at the United States Military Academy at West Point on Wednesday as a big moment, when he would lay out his foreign policy vision for the remainder of his term and refute his critics. The address did not match the hype, was largely uninspiring, lacked strategic sweep and is unlikely to quiet his detractors, on the right or the left.

Twitchy: ‘Who says that?’ Obama busts out the straw men for West Point commencement speech

Poweline: MORE MUSH FROM THE WIMP

Linked by Newsbusters, and 100% Fed Up, Weasel Zippers and Breitbart, thanks!