'America's First Pacific President' - Won't Defend U.S. Nuclear Attacks at Hiroshima, Nagasaki (VIDEO)

At the Politico, "'America's First Pacific President'":

Trying to reassure allies and rivals, President Barack Obama billed himself Saturday as "America’s first Pacific president," promising the nations of Asia "a new era of engagement with the world based on mutual interests and mutual respect."

Turning tough, Obama also said that the U.S. "will not be cowed by threats" from North Korea, which he said for decades "has chosen a path of confrontation and provocation, including the pursuit of nuclear weapons."

In a slap at President George W. Bush, Obama spoke of the importance of "multilateral organizations [that] can advance the security and prosperity of this region."

"I know that the United States has been disengaged from these organizations in recent years. So let me be clear: those days have passed,” Obama said during the first major address of a four-country Far East swing, which will continue from Japan to Singapore, China and South Korea. “As an Asia Pacific nation, the United States expects to be involved in the discussions that shape the future of this region, and to participate fully in appropriate organizations as they are established and evolve," Obama said.

The White House wants to signal U.S. re-engagement with Asia, and the speech was designed to provide an overture to Asia similar to the outreach to the Arab world in the president's famous Cairo address.

Obama spoke extensively of his own roots in the region – his birth in Hawaii, living in Indonesia as a boy, his mother spending nearly a decade working in the villages of Southeast Asia. “The Pacific rim has helped shape my view of the world,” Obama said, speaking in front of 14 alternating U.S. and Japanese flags.

Interesting, that, with Hawaii and all being the opening salvo of Japan's declaration of war on the United States. Tokyo's surprise attack was met with American power, and ultimately America's ultimate weapon in August 1945. You'd think that a U.S. president would be able to speak frankly about the cold, hard, difficult realities of international history. Just not this president, our post American president.

See also, Allahpunit, "Video: Obama Ducks Question on Whether U.S. Should Have Nuked Hiroshima."

Also Memeorandum.