Conservatives blast Obama for 'revisionist' retelling of his Russia record

Conservatives took to Twitter on Thursday to blast former President Barack Obama for presenting what many pundits are calling a “revisionist history” about his record with Russia.  

According to a new Fox News report, while participating in the University of Chicago’s  "Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy" conference, Obama said he felt encouraged by the world’s response to aid Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation” on Feb. 24.

The Democratic former president also said that he recalled having to “drag” U.S. allies to take action against the Kremlin while he was in office.  

"I will say that, as someone who grappled with the incursion into Crimea and the eastern portions of Ukraine, I have been encouraged by the European reaction. Because, in 2014, I often had to drag them kicking and screaming to respond in ways that we would’ve wanted to see, from those of us who describe ourselves as Western democracies," he said.

"grappled" = did nothing after spending years mocking anyone that thought Russia was threatening and still refused to arm Ukraine https://t.co/CM97Kmz3UK

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) April 7, 2022

But many pundits were quick to challenge Obama’s claims and mocked the former president on social media for his apparent lack of memory.

Northeastern University international security professor Max Abrahms said he believed Obama’s answer was “self-serving revisionist history.”

"Watch Obama's self-serving revisionist history of how his administration responded the last time Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014," Abrahms wrote. 

Watch Obama’s self-serving revisionist history of how his administration responded the last time Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014: pic.twitter.com/JvqclXnBhi

— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) April 7, 2022

Similarly, Mark Hemingway, senior writer at RealClearInvestigations, posted on Twitter that, “"‘grappled’ = did nothing after spending years mocking anyone that thought Russia was threatening and still refused to arm Ukraine."

Other users took to Twitter to recall how Obama mocked then Republican nominee Mitt Romney for saying that Russia is the United States’ primary geopolitical foe.

“The 1980s” called and they “want their foreign policy back,” Obama said to Romney during the 2012 presidential debate.

Mirroring the online mood, reporter Chuck Ross from the Free Beacon tweeted, “Anybody know if @JeffreyGoldberg asked Obama about his ‘the ‘80s called’ jab at Romney? Would be a good question at a conference about disinformation.”

Anybody know if @JeffreyGoldberg asked Obama about his “the ‘80s called” jab at Romney? Would be a good question at a conference about disinformation https://t.co/GwRhu2Rr8J

— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) April 7, 2022

In a thread, popular conservative Twitter account AGHamilton29 said he remembered "this going a little differently."

"Umm I definitely remember this going a little differently. What I remember is that after Russian separatists shot down a civilian airliner and Russia invaded a sovereign country, we just passed weak and targeted sanctions. All because Obama wanted Putin's help [w] Iran deal," he tweeted.

"And then Obama was publicly thanking Putin less than a year later for that deal. It was no wonder Putin assumed the international costs of another invasion of Ukraine would be relatively low," he added.

Conservative author and columnist Derek Hunter described the time in 2012 the former president was overheard telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, “I'll have more flexibility" after the election, to which the Medvedev responded that he’d relay the message to Putin.

During the conference, Obama also noted how Putin had always been “ruthless,” but admitted that “five years ago” he wouldn’t have predicted that the Russian autocrat would invade Ukraine.

"For him to bet the farm in this way I’m not—I wouldn’t have necessarily predicted from him five years ago," he said.