President Obama’s call for British voters not to pull out of the European Union is an act of hypocrisy so blatant, it’s breathtaking.
The president wrote a column for the Daily Telegraph calling the outcome of the June 23 referendum “a matter of deep interest to the United States.”
He admitted the vote is an internal matter, but insisted that membership in the EU “magnifies” British influence in Europe instead of diminishing it, as pro-Brexit leaders maintain.
On Friday, Obama upped the ante — flatly threatening in London that Britain would head to “the back of the queue” on any future trade deals if it leaves the EU.
To say his comments have touched off a firestorm of resentment is putting it mildly.
London Mayor Boris Johnson, a leader of the Brexit movement, replied that “the Americans would never contemplate anything like the EU for themselves.”
“For the United States to tell us in the UK that we must surrender control of so much of our democracy is a breathtaking example of the principle of do-as-I-say-but-not-as-I-do,” he added.
As it happens, we think Obama has a right to make his feelings known and that, as he said Friday, “you shouldn’t be afraid to hear an argument being made.”
Yet, not long ago, he himself seemed afraid to hear a foreign leader make his own arguments in this country.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to Washington last year to lobby Congress about the nuclear deal with Iran, Team Obama responded with cold fury.
More, it charged him with interfering in America’s internal politics.
Israel has a literally life-and-death stake in keeping Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. But Obama was offended that Netanyahu would dare make that argument to Congress.
None of which stopped Obama from sending Vice President Joe Biden off to Jerusalem this week to all but call on Israelis to vote Bibi out of office.
Boris Johnson is right: With Obama, it’s always do as I say, but not as I do.