http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/330505/presidency-squandered-victor-davis-hanson The Obama narrative is that he inherited the worst mess in memory and has been stymied ever since by a partisan Congress — while everything from new ATM technology to the Japanese tsunami conspired against him. But how true are those claims? Barack Obama entered office with an approval rating of over 70 percent. […]
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2012/10/all_the_presidents_women_and_men.html
Among the key responsibilities of a president is choosing highly capable officials to steer the nation’s course wisely. President Obama has failed in this duty. Romney declared during the debate that Obama only picks losers regarding green energy boondoggles; the same pattern holds true when it comes to picking people to run the nation. His picks span the spectrum from the incompetent to the dismal.
Recently, I was struck by the tone and gist of a column by New York Times liberal columnist (but I repeat myself) Roger Cohen. His piece, “Obama’s Team of Idolizers,” made mincemeat of Barack Obama’s campaign claim that he would assemble a Cabinet that would resemble the stellar cast of characters that became Abraham Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals.” Four years later, Cohen was so critical of their performance that he dismissed them as having been chosen for their willingness to serve as a “coterie of idolizers.”
Given the debacle or Libya, this excerpt is particularly relevant and timely:
The Obama inner circle remains a group of tough political tacticians: David Axelrod, David Plouffe and Valerie Jarrett. The White House national security team does not boast a single name of strategic stature. Anyone outside Washington would be hard pressed to name one.
On Egypt, he toyed with preserving Mubarak ad interim before the tide became irreversible. On Syria, he has in essence dithered. On Afghanistan, domestic politics dictated the agenda, at a cost in American lives.
Subsequently, we have had the massacre in Benghazi and the exposure of multiple failings by the White House, the State Department, or the intelligence community, one or all of whom ignored warnings and rejected pleas for more security. People were asleep at the switch (or, in the case of President Obama, busy fundraising, ignoring the duty to hear daily intelligence briefings, discussing the merits of various hot peppers or dishing with the Pimp with the Limp); people also died.
While a mother wants to know how and why her only son was killed (see “I want to know what happened to my son”), Barack Obama avoids any questions involving Libya and instead of talking with a grieving mother, talks sports on a radio show in Ohio (see “Obama: I’m a Professional Ohio State Cheerleader”). And the media fashions an image of him as being the empathetic, likeable candidate.
But this was just the latest in a series of failings by various members of the Obama entourage.
Their foibles can serve as epitaphs for a failed presidency.
Vice President Joe Biden
Here we have the Gaffe-Master, America’s favorite punch line; a supposed foreign policy guru who has a long history of making the wrong calls; a sheriff of the stimulus boondoggle, who went AWOL as hundreds of billions of dollars was spent and, in many cases, wasted; and a man who has no problem spouting falsehoods and remaking Obama’s policies on the fly. He is the Joker.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Smart diplomacy that has led to distancing from allies (Israel), betrayal of allies (the Czech Republic and Poland, regarding the stationing of anti-missile missiles in their nations to serve as a defense against Iranian nuclear missiles); dissing of allies (primarily the British — see the symbolic return of the Churchill bust, siding with Argentina over the Falklands); trying to sabotage the democratization of allies (Honduras); turning down pleas by potential allies to help overthrow theocratic, dictatorial, and dangerous regimes (Iranian Green Protesters to Obama: Are You With Us or With Them; they got their answer soon enough, and it was not want they were hoping to hear).
The so-called smart diplomacy led to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians being less likely than before the Obama presidency, an Iranian nuclear bomb being more likely, the Muslim Brotherhood on the march throughout the Arab world, the Saudi royal family feeling shafted by Barack Obama, and America’s reputation in many nations of the Muslim world being lower than it was when George Bush left office.
Ah…the fruits of smart diplomacy.
Then there is the Russian reset, which got off to a wrong start when “smart” diplomats in Clinton’s own department failed to even find the right Russian translation for “reset” when handing over that ridiculous “reset” box with the red button. That box became a symbol of incompetency and, later, naiveté. Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Putin regime has measured the man in the Oval Office and is not impressed. The failure of the Russian reset has been made manifest in the closing of the USAID office in Russia; the cancelation of the Nunn-Lugar Threat Reduction program; stiff-arming at the U.N. Security Council as Putin protects his clients in Syria and Iran, while funneling arms to them; and many other Russian bear hugs of neighboring republics that used to be part of the Soviet Union and that Putin intends to bend to his will.
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/10/mona_eltahawy_vs_free_speech.html Author’s note: I sent this article to Matt Seaton of the Guardian in response to Mona Eltahawy’s defamatory piece there, justifying her vandalism of my ad in the New York subways: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.” Seaton responded: “I don’t see […]
“Finally, carefully contemplate what Obama said in his speech before the Democratic National Convention: “My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy. But from all that we’ve seen and heard they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so deeply.”……
http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/10/forbes-cnn-destroy-obama-administrations-benghazi-lie/
Forbes contributor, Larry Bell, released an article late last night entitled, “Pants On Fire: Obama Administration Scrambles for Cover as Benghazi Lie Explodes.”
The article, drawing on reports from CNN, reveals a picture the Obama administration is desperately trying to sweep under the rug.
President Obama’s foreign policy is an absolute disaster.
Moreover, the things the Obama administration has told the American people in the days since September 11th reveal either gross incompetence, or willful deception. Perhaps, even, a combination of the two. [Emphasis added]
For more than a week after the Benghazi attack, the Obama administration which pledged to be the “most transparent administration in history”, continued to maintain a ruse that the outbreak of violence was nothing more than a spur-of-the-moment protest in response to the offensive video. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeated the fiction, and White House press spokesman Jay Carney told us all that there was “no evidence” that this was a “preplanned or premeditated attack.”
An October 2nd CNN report disagreed. It revealed that the administration repeatedly sent out talking points that contradicted top intelligence officials and sources for the network on the details of what caused the attack. It also said that: “CNN has learned tonight that the White House chose to leave out key intelligence from the attacks on Americans in Libya. There are three things U.S. intelligence has now confirmed to be true: the attacks were preplanned, terrorist attacks, and the work of Al-Qaeda- linked groups. None of these three points were in talking points distributed to congress and other government officials. U.S. intelligence knew of the al-Qaeda link within 24 hours of the attacks. And the now infamous comments by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice that the attacks were not preplanned and not the work of terror came four days after that. This doesn’t add up.”
Click here: Veterans’ Votes Lean Heavily To Romney – Maggie’s Farm http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20783-Veterans-Votes-Lean-Heavily-To-Romney.html The VFW Magazine for October 2012 has an interesting article about the veterans vote. Veterans alone make up some 13% of the population and historically they register their opinions at the ballot box. In 2008, they accounted for 15% of all voters, a […]
http://securityinformationproject.blogspot.com/
Why Bangladesh Matters
The 1971 Bangladesh War of Liberation is best known to America’s baby boom generation as having resulted in the record album “The Concert for Bangladesh” featuring music by George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and others. It was a landmark event that set the precedent for Live Aid and subsequent rock music centered international charity programs. However the nation of Bangladesh, with more than 120 million inhabitants, is today an important regional power that is trying hard to escape from a legacy of mass poverty and tyrannical rule.
After Bangladesh successfully broke away from Pakistan for years it resembled a typical Third World state, mired in corruption and dictatorship. Yet, since the military dictator General Mohammed Ershad was overthrown in a fairly bloodless revolution in 1990 Bangladesh has been a lively, imperfect, tumultuous and violent democracy.
As a sympathetic American wrote in 1993 “For Bangladeshis not only watch politics the way American watch the Superbowl; they imbibe it. It is the race for power that fascinates – perhaps because it’s a contest that truly draws blood, as scores of candidates, supporters, students, and others are murdered each year in political or quasi – political battles in the cities, in the countryside, and on university campuses.”It should be remembered that throughout history, few democracies ever evolved peacefully. American political history, for example cannot be said to have been free of riots, arson and murders.
One important and unique aspect of Bangladeshi democracy has been the idea of a “caretaker government” run by the Supreme Court that takes power in the 90 days leading up to a general election. This helps insure that the balloting will be reasonably open and fair. Even with the “Caretaker” governments in place; elections in Bangladesh have never been peaceful or free of voter fraud, but the concept has helped keep problems more or less under control.
http://www.meforum.org/3358/american-jewish-left
In early September 2012, many in the pro-Israel camp were disturbed by a series of events at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. First, the committee drafting the party platform eliminated traditional language recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Next, the party elders chose to restore the language and called for a pro forma voice vote from the delegates in support of this amendment. Instead, what looked and sounded like an angry majority of the delegates voted against recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
This hostility should not have come as a surprise. For many years, the liberal base of the Democratic Party has been steadily turning against the Jewish state. So much so that for the first time since 1948, one of America’s two major parties has begun to abandon its commitment to Israel. This trend has less to do with the behavior of President Obama or other national party leaders than with the far more troubling phenomenon of changing opinions at the grassroots. The Jerusalem flap at the Democratic convention was not a warning sign. It was the final bell.
Click here: Hillary Doesn’t Get Obama Off The Hook – Maggie’s Farm
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20785-Hillary-Doesnt-Get-Obama-Off-The-Hook.html
Hillary Clinton says the buck stops with her. Not so fast. The buck stops with President Obama:
STATEMENT BY SENATORS McCAIN, GRAHAM AND AYOTTE ON SECRETARY CLINTON’S COMMENTS THIS EVENING ON BENGHAZI ATTACK
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) today released the following statement on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s comments this evening regarding the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012:
“We have just learned that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has claimed full responsibility for any failure to secure our people and our Consulate in Benghazi prior to the attack of September 11, 2012. This is a laudable gesture, especially when the White House is trying to avoid any responsibility whatsoever.
Anti-Semitic propaganda is disseminated, in the most crafty manner, by Iran Press TV, in English. The libels are ever so more insidious, and are increasingly becoming one of the greatest threats to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
Who are those American “experts” on Israel and Jews staring on Iran’s TV programs? What exactly they accuse Israel of? How damaging what they say is to Israel?
Last week the Anti-Defamation League released a chilling report. It lists and provides countless examples of methods Iran is using to propagate anti-Semitism and deny the Holocaust: ADL Report: Iranian Government’s Press TV Promotes Anti-Semitism To Global Audience – http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASInt_13/6403_13.htm
It starts with Iran’s TV English channel, Press TV, that, since its founding in 2007, regularly promotes anti-Semitic positions about Israel and Jews. This is done through interviews with “commentators” and “experts.” These “pundits effortlessly attach to each news’ event libels against Israel. It may not matter to any of us but Press TV is broadcasting these atrocious reports in English, via satellite, that allows viewing these programs of hate and vilification of Israel in the US, Canada, Europe, parts of South America, and parts of Africa.
But it does not end there. The slander of Israel and Jews continues through Iranian anti-Semitic bloggers, many are “public servants” in the Ayatollah’s regime, who propagate in the network “proven theories” about Jews and Israel’s involvement in worldwide conspiracies.
http://www.aim.org/guest-column/confronting-the-addictive-charm-of-charisma/
Review: The 12-Step Guide for the Recovering Obama Voter, by Craig S. Karpel
BROADSIDE BOOKS, An Imprint of HarperCollins, www.broadsidebooks.net [1].
Winston Churchill was a great speaker, but he really grabbed his audience with the power of his ideas, not good looks or personal charisma.
Churchill knew that charisma and superficially seductive arguments could undermine democracy, and he noted that democracy was an imperfect system but still better than any other.
One assumes that Churchill had in mind not only the mistakes of his own country, Britain, but also of Germany. Hitler came to power in a democratic setting, while Britain had elected the amoral Stanley Baldwin (who hid Nazi Germany’s rearmament) and the clueless Neville Chamberlain. Churchill could forgive Chamerlain, but he never forgave Baldwin.
When asked to eulogize Chamberlain, Prime Minister Churchill graciously agreed, but when told of Baldwin’s death, he said “Burn him, bury him, take no chances.” Churchill could never forgive the way Baldwin had cynically betrayed his own people and the democratic system.
Like Churchill, Sigmund Freud analyzed the power and danger of group psychology and mass movements in his late work, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Some of us could not help thinking of his work while watching crowds chanting, “Yes we can,” as some members of the audience fainted with emotion in the 2008 presidential campaign.
We Americans became intoxicated with a young African-American politician a few years ago, imbibing his charms. Four years later, we are having a hangover. His name was Barack Obama.
“Supporting Obama was like any other addiction: It felt good at the time, but we’ve been in agony ever since,” says author Craig Karpel. He describes the classic symptoms in this funny but penetrating account entitled The 12-Step Guide for the Recovering Obama Voter [2].
“Obamania had the classic initial features of addiction: the buzz, the rush, the flash, the high, the euphoric contentment,” says Karpel, adding, “and now we’re experiencing the inevitable comedown: the crash, the craving when the addiction isn’t satisfied, the misery of withdrawal.
Craig Karpel’s writing has its own seductive humor, but it is deeper than the speech of a charismatic leader. His analysis is rooted in the deep historical and cultural insights of that great observer, Alexis De Tocqueville, who wrote: “the great privilege enjoyed by the Americans is not only to be more enlightened than other nations but also to have the chance to make mistakes that can be retrieved.”
The author wants us to take a sober look—yes, sober is exactly the right word—at the choice of Barack Obama, and then to decide if we are happy with what we chose: yes, what we chose. It was our choice, and we should not blame Obama if we are disappointed.
“For us to blame Barack Obama for his presidency,” writes Karpel, “is in the same category as stubbing a toe on a rock and blaming the rock. It’s up to us to look where we’re going.”
Karpel’s method is structured along the lines of the AA—Alcoholics Anonymous—method that makes the alcohol addict admit his/her mistakes in a sober and honest way. This could have been tedious, but Karpel carries it off in a manner that has the reader laughing out loud.
The author walks a tightrope between keeping us laughing and his dead-serious objective of getting us to choose leaders in a sober—yes, there is that word again—manner.
“Voting sobriety,” says author Karpel, “means never again casting a ballot in a presidential election without carefully examining the background, character, career, and plans of each candidate.”
One can almost hear Karpel poking fun of the famous line from Eric Segal’s Love Story—“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Karpel is saying, “never having to say you’re sorry” for whom you voted means “not falling in love” but making a sober assessment.
“Voting sobriety means never again casting a ballot in a presidential election for a candidate who doesn’t have a compelling record of numerous, specific, significant accomplishments—not just a high-concept life story and a drop-dead résumé.”
Karpel shows beautifully that many Americans voted for Obama by suspending their usual skeptical and healthy sense of disbelief in all politicians and instead treated Obama as a kind of national healer or messiah whose very election would prove that America had atoned for earlier sins, such as slavery or racism.
That is the telling image: Change we can believe in, a leader we can believe in, a faith healer.
