Sen. Obama and Foreign Policy

Barack Obama’s verbal gaffes are sometimes amusing, frequently revealing. But his serious statements on world affairs are downright alarming.

Earlier in the campaign, Obama earned rebukes from fellow Senate Democrats after he vowed to meet with dictators of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela in his first year in office, with no preconditions. This would be unparalleled in American diplomacy and deeply unsettling for our allies.

Hillary Clinton called Obama’s promise ‘‘irresponsible and frankly naive.’’

Add ‘‘self-righteous’’ and you’ve summed up Obama’s approach to foreign policy. No wonder Obama’s words increasingly invite comparisons with the one-term disaster from Georgia. Call it Jimmy Carter: The Sequel. ...

Obama’s pledge to meet with Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is arming Shia militants in southern Iraq and has promised to ‘‘wipe Israel off the map,’’ bears striking resemblance to Jimmy Carter’s April meeting with the terror organization Hamas, whose organizational purpose is to destroy Israel. ... In the late 1970s, Carter was ineffective in dealing with the fledgling Islamic extremist movement. The movement, now in full maturity, has declared war on the United States. A president who fails to understand this reality puts the country and the western world in grave - even serious - danger.