As a follow-up to my previous post about the Armenian Genocide, I’ll add that Julian Ku of Opinio Juris wrote last week about the broken campaign promise aspect of the issue. As Ku notes, Obama’s campaign website states:
The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.
And as I wrote last week, the Obama adminsitration pressured the House Foreign Affairs Committee (unsuccessfully) to hold off on voting on a resolution recognizing the genocide, thus reversing Obama’s campaign pledge. However, I agree with Ku’s assessment: the lesson isn’t necessarily that Obama should live up to his campaign promise for the sake of living up to his campaign promise, but rather that aspiring office-holders should not make promises they have no intention of keeping.
