Apparently the White House refused to let Lech Walesa accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of Jan Karski, a leader of the Polish underground during World War II, claiming that Walesa was “too political”. My problem is that I’ve only seen this reported in right wing media and blogs, so I’m pretty sure I’m not getting the full story. So what is it?
Let’s imagine how Fox News would report it if he had done the opposite:
While he seems to have given up running for office, Walesa is still active in Poland’s (extremely contentious) partisan political scene. I imagine the “snub” was for the reasons the WH gave, that they don’t want to give the award to an active political figure so as to avoid being seen as trying to influence Poland’s domestic politics.
Before anybody accepts the question on its own terms and discusses the why, they should ask if it happened at all. The source for this seems to be an editorial in the New York Post. (Yup, not just the Post - an editorial.) It actually says Obama didn’t allow Walesa to accept the medal because Walesa refused to meet with Obama in public at some point in the past, and the “too political” thing is cover. I’d like to see a credible source for any of this.
According to news.com, Walesa declined to meet Obama in Poland last year because the invitation wasn’t personal.
In giving the award posthumously to Karski on Tuesday, Obama referred to “the Warsaw Ghetto and a Polish death camp”. Now Walesa is crying foul, as if Obama meant that it was under Polish control and not just situated there. This story’s taking more twists and turns than a pole dancer (and no, I don’t mean a Polish stripper, okay, Lech?).
And Wikipedia says, “Wałęsa is a devout Roman Catholic and a staunch opponent of abortion, and has said that he would rather have resigned the presidency twenty times than sign into law a bill permitting abortion in Poland.” The White House is being kind in calling him “too political”. I think it’s diplomatic code for “douche”.
The ceremony was on May 29, and yes, that phrasing caused a 24-hour diplomatic flap. The editorializing about this Walesa thing came later.
Poland is my new, least favorite country. There was the “we didn’t know what was happening at the camps, so don’t blame us” flap and then the Euro Cup racist chants at players.
If that is your source, you can be absolutely sure you are not getting the entire story.