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Barack Obama may have mangled a few Indian words in his address to India’s parliament today, but he got the important things right. Stating the obvious is often berated as a platitudinous impulse, but in some cases it can be a virtue, particularly when your audience is of a thin-skinned kind that actually craves the obvious. And no audience fits this bill better than an Indian one.

So it was that President Obama came to say in New Delhi that the United States and India can “forge a truly global partnership.” He also stated things that are obvious to Indians, but less so to Americans (although even this excessively trusting nation is starting to grow wise to the truth): “Terrorist safe havens in Pakistan” he said, “are unacceptable.” For Indians who...