AGAIN? – AT 10:34 A.M. ET:  The president of the United States does not know history.  Indeed, given the buildup he received as the greatest brain in the political history of the Universe – he doesn't know much at all.  And once again he's committed a gaffe:

WARSAW — President Obama held up Poland as a model for Arab nations undergoing political upheaval on Saturday, saying its peaceful overthrow of Communism provided lessons for Tunisia and other countries struggling with the chaotic aftermath of popular revolts.

Mr. Obama, wrapping up a six-day trip to Europe with a stop in this staunch American ally, paid tribute to the elders of the Solidarity movement, which led the uprising in Poland, as well as young activists just back from Tunisia, where they offered advice based on Poland’s experience.

“Poland has navigated that process as well as any country in recent history,” Mr. Obama said at a meeting that included Solidarity leaders, though not Lech Walesa, who was out of the country. The president said he wanted “all states undergoing similar experiences to learn from Poland.”

COMMENT:  It's perfectly fine to praise the Polish example, but conditions in the Arab world are so different that the comparison collapses almost immediately.  Poland is in Europe, which has at least a passable democratic tradition.  There is almost no democratic tradition in the Arab world.  While Poland has a religious history tied to the Catholic Church, that institution has gone through dramatic change and reform in recent decades.  Militant Islam, which is growing in the Mideast, is still stuck in its past.  Poland became free at least in part because of the collapse of the Soviet Union, under pressure from the Reagan-Thatcher-John Paul II coalition.  No such condition exists in the Mideast.

Obama committed a similar gaffe recently when he compared the Israel-Palestinian conflict to the Irish dispute with Britain.  Some commentators gently pointed out that the Irish never intended to destroy Britain, whereas a good part of the Palestinian movement is committed to the destruction of Israel.

The problem with people who speak well is that they're often tempted to speak again, when silence might be a wiser alternative.  For this president, given the mess created by his speech designed to pre-empt the Israeli prime minister last week, silence might become the smart weapon of choice.

Oh, by the way, the above quote is from The New York Times, so in the tank for Obama that it whitewashed the reason that Lech Walesa is not meeting the president.  It's not because he's out of the country.  Walesa is snubbing Obama, as reported by AFP:

Lech Walesa, Poland's Solidarity-era legend, ex-president and 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner said Friday he would not accept an invitation to meet with fellow Nobel winner US President Barack Obama.

"It's difficult to tell journalists what you'd like to say to the president of a superpower. This time I won't tell him, I won't meet him, it doesn't suit me," Walesa told Poland's public broadcaster TVP.

Obama is due to arrive in Poland later Friday after the G8 summit in France.

Walesa was originally scheduled to meet Obama Saturday along with other key figures in Poland's post-1989 transition from communism to democracy.

According to sources close to Walesa, he was expecting a personal invitation from Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 shortly after taking office.

COMMENT:  This is a prime example of why The Times is no longer trusted by a large segment of the population.

May 28, 2011