Get A Room

One of the most talented observers with us today is Shelby Steel of Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Along with his colleague Thomas Sowell, these two black scholars have been there and done that; Obama is a midget compared to these guys. Both see completely through our commander-in-chief.

Steel reminds us in a recent piece that Obama, “is simply the first president we have seen who is grounded in this counterculture American identity. When he bows to foreign leaders, he is not displaying ‘otherness’ but the counterculture Americanism of honorable self-effacement in which America acknowledges its own capacity for evil as prelude to engagement.”

Steel continues, “Among today's liberal elite, bad faith in America is a sophistication, a kind of hipness.”

And there we have it. This is the heart of Obama's foreign policy. Indeed, we know that either BO does not care, or, is more sympathetic to those who voice grievances such as his own against the U.S., than he is to our allies.

Vic Hansen reminds us that BO failed to support the Iranian freedom protestors, ignored the abuses of the Cuban and Syrian totalitarian regimes, and kept silent about the destruction of democracy in Venezuela.

Well natch. It fits.

A shame.

Footnote: Of course the media ignore this stuff; they are obsessed with Obama, or were. As a result the average folk out there didn’t get it all - they’ve got jobs and family to attend to, have to rely on the evening news. Phil Bronstein, writing on sfgate.com a while back tells us, “Love or lust, Obama and the fawning press need to get a room.”

Or did. We don’t think the press would consider BO as a lover any longer. They’re pissed. He charmed them into sacrificing their reputations.

Robert Craven

Scared

Ahmadinejad to the US: “If you don't leave the region, you should know that soon the nations of the region will expel you with a kick in the butt.” Whoa now! But wait! That’s not all. “May the undertaker bury you, your table and your body, which has soiled the world,” he added for good measure.

Too much! The body is one thing. Table too? OK, fine, we’re out of there.

No, seriously, what gives with this guy? Is he stupid? No. We’ve already established that. Is he erratic? Sure. Is he in trouble? Definitely.

He’s in trouble with the mullah clowns at home. And he’s in trouble with the US and her real allies who have applied what we termed a few weeks ago to be a pincher operation. It’s working.

Sanctions on refined gasoline (which we called for 4 years ago) have teeth. US (and EU) policy to unveil the threat of a strike scares the leisure suit right off this guy.

It’s easy nowadays to bad mouth Obama. In this arena, maybe not so fast.

Robert Craven

Betrayal

In past issues we have praised Obama for his unilateral effort to isolate Iran. There’s teeth in them thar sanctions. Those who claim we are partisan will receive little comfort from these issues.

Still, there is one overriding concern which these rare instances of judgement do little to erase.

It is this: Obama has put the security interests of the US in jeopardy and further endangered those Americans serving in Afghanistan by promising a withdrawal date of 7/2011, in exchange for votes to further his domestic agenda.

This is contemptible behavior.

We broached this topic earlier; now Woodward’s book confirms it. Woodward details the thinking behind Obama's decision on the deadline. "I can't let this be a war without end, and I can't lose the whole Democratic Party," Obama told Lindsay Graham at one point.

Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer has reported frequently from Afg. From today’s issue she is critical of Obama’s judgement: “As I saw on my last visit to Afghanistan, in April, the deadline convinced most Afghans that the Americans were headed for the exits. Tribal chiefs and village elders now believe the Taliban will make a comeback, and they are sitting tight.”

Key to our effort in Afg (as in Iraq) is the shift in Afghan psychology at the grassroots, the belief that it is safe for locals to turn against the insurgents. Duh! Any draw down date emasculates that goal. And it puts our people there at much greater risk.

Just a lack of judgement this time? More. An open act of betrayal based on party politics.

Every American should be ashamed of this guy.

Robert Craven