White House spokesman Robert Gibbs stated Monday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric at a UN conference on world racism affirmed the administration's decision not to attend that conference.
"This is obviously a painful rhetoric," Gibbs said of the Iranian president's remarks. "It is, I think, one of the reasons why you saw the administration and the president determine that partaking in this conference was not a wise thing to do. Obviously the president disagrees vehemently with what was said... we continue to evaluate our policy and understand that from a larger foreign policy framework, doing things the same old way is not likely to bring about the change we need in our foreign policy."
Gibbs stressed that the president was still committed to combating global racism. Last week, aides discussed putting out a separate statement underlying this commitment. Certainly, minority groups -- including the NAACP -- are looking for some sort of commitment after petitioning (unsuccessfully) for the United States to attend the conference, known as Durban II. Gibbs also noted that the U.S. is seeking a seat on the UN Council on Human Rights.
Ahmadinejad's rhetoric at Durban II -- which included calling Israel the leading cause of racism -- was not unexpected by administration officials. On a conference call with American Jewish leaders last week, members of Obama's foreign policy team acknowledged their concern of being stuck in the conference room as the Iranian president and others ripped not just Israel but the United States. Several western officials, indeed, walked out during Monday's address. And Gibbs argued that these protests proved that that president had "made the right decision to not go forward with attendance."