In an interview with Al Jazeera on 12 January 2013, Noam Chomsky characterized then president Barack Obama as a man without “moral centre”.

If you look at his policies I think that’s what they reveal. I mean there’s some nice rhetoric here and there but when you look at the actual policies … the drone assassination campaign is a perfectly good example, I mean it’s just a global assassination campaign.

I had then commented on Chomsky’s damning assessment. Once almost regarded as the Messiah, Obama had in fact sunk to such depths rather unexpectedly.

When sacked former FBI director James Comey emphasizes that the present president of the US Donald Trump is unfit for the presidency on moral grounds, it may mean something else.

In a way Obama maintained, generally spoken, his grace despite shocking moments of self-reflection, “Turns out, I’m really good at killing people”. The Peace Nobel Prize laureate of 2008 should have returned the award.

For many, Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, didn’t have a moral center either. He may even be regarded a war criminal as he and a “coalition of the willing” had illegally raided Iraq in 2003 for non-existing weapons of mass destruction. But his mores are those of a “born-again-Christian”.

It is obvious that Donald Trump does in fact differ. James Comey, who had served under four US presidents, Bill Clinton (another striking case of moral deficiencies), George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, characterizes the latter in very base terms.

So, is the message that a global assassination campaign or war of aggression on dubious grounds does not interfere with fitness for the post?

16 April 2018 @ 7:43 am.

Last modified April 16, 2018.