The Responsibility Of Privilege

Chomsky said that a black activist had recounted a story in which a group of African American women visited the President following his inauguration in 2009. After the meeting, the disappointed women told the black activist, “this man has no moral center.”

“I think they’re right,” Chomsky said. “If you look at his policies, I think that is what they reveal. Just some nice rhetoric here and there. If you look at the actual policies, they’re pretty shocking. The drone assassination campaign is a perfectly good example. I mean, that’s just a global assassination campaign.”

Critics of the use of drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Pakistan and Yemen worry the practice violates international law and kills civilians.

Chomsky also downplayed Obama’s efforts to block Israel settlements into Palestinian territory. Though the Obama administration has repeatedly criticized Israel’s settlement activity, they had not imposed any actual penalties, unlike previous presidents, Chomsky said.

“In fact, Obama is actually the first president who hasn’t really imposed restrictions on Israel,” he added.