How Do You CHANGE Obama's Mind?

It really doesn't take much to get President Obama to change his mind these days. Just a letter writing campaign, hundreds of blog postings, a few media hacks shouting and a couple of career diplomats complaining about it.

That is all it took to make Obama realize that going to the Durban II Conference would not be a good idea.

The United States has decided not to participate in a UN conference on racism in April unless the final document is changed to drop all references to Israel and the defamation of religion, a senior US official said Friday.

The conference is a follow-up to the contentious 2001 conference in the South African city of Durban which was dominated by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery. The US and Israel walked out midway through that eight-day meeting over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism to racism.

Israel and Canada have already announced that they will boycott the upcoming World Conference Against Racism in Geneva from April 20-25, known as Durban II, but US President Barack Obama's administration decided to assess the negotiations before making a decision on US participation.

Last week, the State Department sent two US representatives to Geneva, where the final document to be issued by conference participants at the end of the conference is being negotiated, the US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because an official announcement has not yet been made.

The Obama administration would reconsider its position if the document improves in a number of areas including dropping references to any specific country, references to defamation of religion which the US views as a free speech issue, and language on reparations for slavery. It also wants a shorter text and does not want the final document for Durban II to reaffirm the final document from the 2001 Durban conference, the US official said.

Poor President Obama. He held out his hand in an olive branch to the Muslim world, ant they bit it. He has been trying to be a unifier and forge a new beginning with the Muslim world, and all they want is the total destruction of Israel and for the domination of Islam through out the world as the only religion allowed in any nation.

So now three nations will not attend Durban II. They are Israel, Canada, and the United States. It is time for the nations of Europe who cry that they love freedom and free speech, to join the boycott.

What are they waiting for? What are they scared of? Being called a racist for not supporting a conference that condemns Israel for every evil in the world and ignores all the evils and wrongs done by the majority nations? There is a word for that: It is called integrity. And it is time the nations of Europe learn it.