The topic of discussion for this
Freedom Friday concerns an article - really just the headline - that stated the
Barack Obama is campaigning for the position of Secretary General of the United
Nations. I did not actually read the article because I decided to do a fact
check first. However, I have to admit that the headline stabbed me in the
heart! According to Snopes, the article is untrue.
I do not know whether or not Snopes
is completely trustworthy, but I will take them at their word for the present.
This is part of Snopes’ report on the article.
This story was false. President Obama
has announced no plans to seek the position of Secretary-General of the United
Nations….
Moreover, the position of U.N.
Secretary-General is not exactly one that can be gained through campaigning for
it, nor is President Obama a likely choice for it. First off, the Secretary
General has to be nominated by the U.N. Security Council, and any one of the
council’s permanent members (China, France, Russian Federation, the United
Kingdom, and the United States) could veto that selection – meaning that the
Trump administration (and/or the Russian government) could unilaterally block
any attempt by President Obama to become U.N. Secretary-General.
Additionally, the Secretary-General has
to be appointed by the General Assembly (which comprises all 193 member
states), many of whom would likely reject the thought of an American’s leading
that global organization. Finally, President Obama would be an unlikely choice
for the role of U.N. chief administrative officer because, as Wikipedia notes, “most
Secretaries-General are compromise candidates from middle powers and have
little prior fame” (but Barack Obama hails from a major power and has achieved international
fame). The U.N. has never selected a Secretary-General from North America, and
only once in United Nations history has a candidate from anywhere in the
Americas been appointed to that position (Peruvian diplomat Javier Perez de
Cuellar, who served from 1982 to 1991).
If the above information can be
believed, we may be free of Obama – unless another recently reported idea comes
to fruition. Someone reminded us that it would be perfectly legal for Joe Biden
to run for President of the United States with Barack Obama as his Vice
President. How is that for a nightmare scenario? We may or may not be free from
the leadership of Obama. For now, I think that I will breathe a sigh of relief
and hope that my fellow Americans are not dumb enough to elect Biden to
anything!
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