On the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, some activists had dared to hope that YOLO Obama, the man who had once after all promised to refer to the genocide as just that, might actually do so this year.
President Barack Obama will not use the word “genocide” to describe the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians in his annual statement commemorating the historic atrocity later this month.
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes informed Armenian-American activists of the decision in a meeting at the White House on Tuesday.Obama will send Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to Armenia this week to represent the United States at a commemoration of the genocide, a years-long slaughter traditionally observed on April 24. Historians mark 1915 as the start of the genocide, making this year the 100th anniversary…
“This is a betrayal of the truth, a betrayal of trust, a disgraceful national surrender to a foreign gag order being imposed by the government of Turkey,” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, who attended the White House meeting.
Just wait until Sen. Obama hears about this:
Obama's 2006 letter to Condi Rice on the Armenian genocide: pic.twitter.com/3LWgtxELe7
— John Sexton (@verumserum) April 22, 2015
In perfect seriousness, though it will sound like I’m joking, do you know what could have changed his mind about this? An all-out social media appeal by the Kardashians. I kid you not. I think he would change his mind once #callitagenocide was trending courtesy of Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, and of course, Kanye. Say I’m wrong.
Exit question: Will former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton get any mildly uncomfortable queries about this? Nah.
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