When President Obama spoke before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, he had the chance then and there to project strength and resolve after weeks’ worth of attacks on American personnel and property that left our world stature diminished and four of our countrymen dead. Instead, he pleaded for understanding.

Obama’s speech was yet another in his endless river of sermons about the power of words. If only we could all sit down and talk out our problems, the world would be a better place, he said. After recalling the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Obama talked of the ideals of the United Nations and said: “If we are serious about those ideals, we must speak honestly about the deeper causes of this crisis.” He then dishonestly blamed the wave of anti-American attacks on an anti-Muslim video, although he had known for weeks that the attack that killed Ambassador Stevens was the work of al-Qaida.

He went on to declare that “freedom and self-determination ... are universal values” that justify U.S. intervention in the domestic affairs of foreign countries.

Those who attack us are not stupid. Nor are the leaders to whom Obama spoke. They all know that America was not attacked for a film, but for other reasons, including our continued insistence on picking sides in foreign domestic conflicts.

Amazingly, Obama has not yet learned that rhetoric is no substitute for leadership. But our enemies know it, and they surely see by now that the American President is a talker, not a leader.