CNN reporter Jim Clancy questioned the wisdom of President Obama’s foreign policy speech in front of West Point graduates on Wednesday, claiming the president’s policy of disengagement was met with an “icy reception” from the future Army officers.
Clancy spoke Wednesday afternoon with CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin about the speech Wednesday morning, in which President Obama urged a shift away from direct military intervention in foreign conflicts — a policy his White House has not historically pursued.
But although the veteran CNN reporter didn’t seem put off by the content of the speech, he was a little perplexed by the venue.
“[It] probably, you know, wasn’t really a great speech to give at the U.S. Military Academy,” Clancy noted. “It was a philosophical speech. It was not a commander-in-chief speaking to his troops. And you heard the reception. I mean, it was pretty icy.”
Other reports on the speech also commented on the tepid applause graduating cadets gave their president. Last Sunday, Washington Post columnist Chuck Lane noted that the ongoing VA scandal is a “huge setback” for President Obama’s push to turn the military into a Democratic constituency.
[h/t Mediaite]