Tyrants and thugs around the world seek legitimacy by being photographed and shaking hands with an American President. The images are broadcast in their country as a symbol of acceptability, and to deal their opposition a blow, by in effect saying: America accepts me, and it won't help you in your efforts to gain freedom at the expense of my power.
When he claimed in his inaugural address that "we would extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist", he made the thuggish regimes be responsible for modifying their behavior before America rewarded them.
Obama's policies have switched that sequence, as if we are the nation who has wronged the tyrants and rogue states and need to reach out to them first.
As such, he is making a mockery of another applause line from his inaugural address, in which he said that "we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."
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