During a recent conference on “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy” at the University of Chicago, former President Barack Obama spoke about his experience “as someone who grappled with the incursion into Crimea.”
“I will say that, as someone who grappled with the incursion into Crimea and the eastern portions of Ukraine, I have been encouraged by the European reaction. Because, in 2014, I often had to drag them kicking and screaming to respond in ways that we would’ve wanted to see, from those of us who describe ourselves as Western democracies,” the former president said.
But more than a handful of reporters and experts were quick to check the former President on his record.
“Terrorism expert and Northeastern University international security professor Max Abrahms blasted Obama’s answer as ‘self-serving,’” the New York Post reports.
“Watch Obama’s self-serving revisionist history of how his administration responded the last time Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014,” Abrahms wrote.
Mark Hemingway, senior writer at RealClearInvestigations, tweeted “‘grappled’ = did nothing after spending years mocking anyone that thought Russia was threatening and still refused to arm Ukraine.”
Spectator contributor Stephen Miller shared an image of Romney laughing.
https://t.co/WOgrb76Tup pic.twitter.com/VksZO8vCOw
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 7, 2022
“Anybody know if @JeffreyGoldberg asked Obama about his ‘the ‘80s called’ jab at Romney? Would be a good question at a conference about disinformation,” Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross tweeted.
Anybody know if @JeffreyGoldberg asked Obama about his “the ‘80s called” jab at Romney? Would be a good question at a conference about disinformation https://t.co/GwRhu2Rr8J
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) April 7, 2022
“Even former Obama White House officials agree his administration was soft on Russia,” the Post says.
“Obama’s former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, admitted this week on CNN that his presidency should’ve been tougher on Russia in 2014 when it invaded and annexed Crimea.”
Obama blasted for 'self-serving' 'revisionist' Russia comments during conference on disinformation https://t.co/DtNQgrNeud pic.twitter.com/rKvbwyX7UU
— New York Post (@nypost) April 8, 2022