Obama throws America under the bus
I’m with Krauthammer on this—disgraceful. But liberals and the left will eat Obama’s words up; we all know how terrible America is, and how good it is to apologize.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
I’m glad that we in the “stupid party” have people like Krauthammer and Richard Epstein on our side. We will wait a long time for the Democrats to produce anyone nearly as bright.
The question is, how do we help observations like these to get some traction. If disseminated and repeated, they must change the way people frame the issues. We are in a race to change enough minds before it is too late.
Very well said! I agree, too. I thought several of those things when I heard that snippet of the Obama speech highlighted on the news.
“But liberals and the left will eat Obama’s words up…” with a spoon from the floor.
A predictable comment from a predictable neo-con on predictable network. Wow.
Conservatives continue to underestimate Obama, and they’ll be as shocked as a 10-year-old who sees a rabbit pulled out of a hat for the first time—when the Big O continues to win.
The guy is giving a political and diplomatic masterclass in Europe. But neo-cons naturally see Obama as a disaster. They reflexively see openness or accommodating behavior as weakness. In their world, it is always 1938 and the Czechs are about to be betrayed in Munich all over again. Time to update that mindset, people.
I wouldn’t go so far as Farsider, but no one on the right is talking about Obama’s remarks regarding anti-Americanism in Europe, and how it is “insidious” and “does not represent the truth”, and that “Europe cannot confront [the challenges of this century] without America”. I don’t think they get him off the hook for the other comments, but they’re not being reported at all, and people are not getting the whole story.
Ah, Farsider–not half as smart as you think you are–Obama’s “masterclass” has been in bowing and scraping to the Saudi King, in mea culpas, in apologizing to all and sundry for America, and “going along to get along,” so Obama has, indeed, made it Munich again, and a lot more than Czechoslovakia is being betrayed this time.
“The Big O” as you call him is winning WHAT, exactly? Have all the Cabinet posts been filled to his satisfaction? Is the latest creep in unemployment (the highest since 1985) part of his winning strategy? Has NATO decided to give him more than 5,000 trained personnel (not all fighters) to help with his Afghanistan plans? Are the heads of states doing more than ignoring his anti-Americanism remarks and (if the report I read is correct) his gentle reminder that Europe contributed to their own financial crisis?
“The guy is giving a political and diplomatic masterclass in Europe.”
He’s coming across as a naive yet well-intentioned young leader. Read the European papers, man. If you think that appearing weak and uninformed is his aim, then he’s “winning”.
Farsider,
I fail to see how any of his behavior abroad is masterful. He’s committed foreign policy gaffes that made me wonder if he was trying to be GWB and Carter at the same time. His criticism of the US sounds like a Hollywood celebrity, not like a national leader. Could you imagine JFK or Clinton or Truman doing something like this?
I wonder what ” Farsider” thinks of Obama bowing to the Sauidi King? Have you seen the video? The Republicans need to attempt a “censure” in Congress for this. They don’t have the votes but just announcing it might force the media to show the video. Then again, the media is full of treasonous , America hating liberals, so maybe not.
It also occurs to me that Obama’s words about America’s attitude—“arrogant, dismissive, and derisive”—are another example of one of his favorite ploys, projection. That is, the words are a perfect description of Obama’s attitude towards America.
Terrifying.
Obama is being praised in Germany for negotiating a deal with Turkey to allow Rasmussen to become NATO Sec Gen. At first it was reported that Turkey would get a position as Asst Sec. Later, it was reported that Obama is pushing for EU membership for Turkey, which is a long-standing American position that seemed to have been put on the back burner while the Euros negotiated a privileged partnership. But Merkel is reported to have pushed back on this. Now I read at LGF, that Rasmussen will apologize for the Danish cartoons. I’m pretty sure Obama will get a warm welcome in Turkey, which he will spin to be a sign of his success in winning over the Muslim world.
Next tidbit: nuclear disarmament. That went over so well that Claudia Roth (Green) and Guido Westerwelle are now calling for the removal of all US nuclear weapons from Germany. Roth also Questioned remaining in NATO.
Final bit: Apparently Michelle invited Merkel to the WH.
I am glad Obama’s apologies seem to be bearing fruit–for him, not us.
“The guy is giving a political and diplomatic masterclass in Europe…
They reflexively see openness or accommodating behavior as weakness. In their world, it is always 1938…”
It’s called The Art of Pretend and Betrayal. Obama is the point man for the resurgence of a now global, even Americanized, Vichy political culture. The difference between neocons and leftists is the leftist’s refusal to learn from history…
I’m a lib and I despised what O said. K was right, O dissed the country that elected him and those that did not but accept him as our leader, and got squat from Europe
He talked this way during the campaign… big surprise he is talking this way over there… now..
Typical of Obama to set unattainable goals as strawmen. Even someone as far in the tank as Farsider must realize that total nuclear disarmament is not possible during the next four to eight years. Hence Obama cannot be held accountable for not achieving it in his tenure. But, he will nontheless claim to be working hard to achieve it; and his worshipers will believe him.
I would love to be a fly on the wall if O actually approached Netanyahu with his nuclear disarmament scheme. One might as well offer the Israeli’s a national dose of Mr. Jone’s Koolaid.
There were probably a few sardonic chuckles in Delhi, Islamabad, Beijing, Moscow, etc. when he spoke. I expect that even the enlightened personages in Paris thought, “oh yes, we will gladly give up our last vestige of military power, and throw ourselves behind the shield of human goodness and understanding. Because that has worked so well for us throughout history.” Besides the world has only to talk to the Georgians about how effective International agencies are in defusing threats.
The fact is that nuclear weapons have been the most important element of deterrence available since WWII. A robust nuclear capability is the great equalizer. For many years the Soviet military dwarfed our own in raw size. China’s dwarfs everyone. The U.S. nuclear umbrella has been a critical shield for us and our friends. The Leftists always treated Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) as though it were an insane scheme, when it was in fact a brilliant and successful strategy that remains important even with endemic nuclear proliferation. Unless, of course, you are confronting madmen. Then you better have missile defense.
The way things are going, if he’s lucky Obama will be remembered in the history books as a clone of Jimmy Carter, rather than a Henri-Philippe Petain…
Matt E Says:
“does not represent the truth”,
I did think the part about abu graub was not true.
“Unless, of course, you are confronting madmen. Then you better have missile defense.”
Actually, unless that missile defense can guarantee 100% perfection, you better have effective preemption combined with regime change; The current Iraq expedition is exemplary of an effective model.
Not all Europeans are impressed by that “masterclass” because there are so many different Europeans. For instance, many of us are a little puzzled that almost all the questions in Strasbourg came from American journalists. And we are even more surprised that the man who is giving that masterclass thinks that Austrians speak something he calls Austrian.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/04/news_conference_by_president_obama.php
Response to last question but one.
Oh and quite a lot or Europeans have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention occasionally standing up to the Russians. In those days the American President supported them.
loved the remark: what leadership role? I think O was trying to do what he does best, please the listener. but surley this will bite him on the backside in time to come? if the press stops protecting him.
If you want an article on how Michelle Obama is turning the clock backwards for women as she parades around Europe in her Easter finest, have a look at this stinging post on Femisex.com:
http://www.femisex.com/content/my-what-a-pretty-dress-mrs-barack-obama-wears-she-decimates-years-progress-women
PS. found both neo-neocon and femisex on CoffeeShop! good roundup!
Helen,
It is a shame that the voices you talk about get drowned out in America by our own academics, journalists, and intellectuals who give their like-minded cohorts in Europe an even larger megaphone.
His act is going to get tired really fast. Boy, it’s going to be a long four years. The damage is going to be staggering, but maybe that’s what it’s going to take to get some people to move from “stuck on stupid” to getting a clue.
Helen, in those days American presidents supported America, too. I miss those days.
FredHjr,
I think that it is his intent that the damage not only be staggering, but irreparable.
As for the Troll, who said, “A predictable comment from a predictable neo-con on predictable network.”
Did you notice that he never said that what Krauthammer said wasn’t true. He/she/it also said, “The guy is giving a political and diplomatic masterclass in Europe.” On what though, he didn’t say. Maybe it was a class on how to be feckless kiss ass.
PD, Petain is not a fair comparison, perhaps Quisling is more appropriate.
Here is the awful truth: it’s not what is true, it’s what you can convince others to believe.
It’s neither the law nor the facts, but what you can get the jury to do.
Both those things depend on the person to abdicate their roll and not consider the possibility of being tricked.
if there are rules that keep the game honest then one has to conserve those rules, if not, then the game is not honest and we only have ourselves to blame.
every world leader sees obama coming. his slick willy snake oil dance does not work for them, they are not on his side. and he will sell the store to engratiate himself to people that dont like bozo the clown. we are in deep doo doo…
oh, the first two sentences were from american thinker author hoven…
Obama wants the fight to start before 2010.
Interesting.
Perfected, I do not disagree with you. But, there was little stomach for pre-emption against the likes of Iran during the past administration and there will certainly be none in this one.
So, as a minimum we better get into a good defensive posture. Unfortunately, it looks as if he is prepared to junk missile defense.
Oddflyer,
I agree we need missile defense, but what good is it with open borders we have now? They could just drive a few nukes across.
The EU and Turkey…sounds a litlle like two old legs of the Roman Empire.
Apparently our only hope is that our professional military, in their man to man dealings with him, won’t let him blow it totally.
Somehow, some way, we must survive the next four years. Then, with a Republican president and Congress begin the long, slow work of undoing the damage and bringing our country back to where it should be.
Do all of you remember what the years 1976-1980 were like? It was pretty bad. Even those of us who remember those years – it’s been so long that we may even not remember it all – do understand what we are about to go through.
We have to hang on. I believe this guy does not have a free pass from a lot of “centrists” who fell for his bullshit. We will survive and we will recover. Never forget that the MSM was every bit in Carter’s corner that entire time. They were very hostile towards Reagan before he was elected and after his two election victories. Never forget that.
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@ Farsider,
I think you underestimate conservative foreign policy about as much as you think that we underestimate Obama.
Your post on how conservatives react shows a distinct lack of understanding of foreign policy or strategy. Paradoxically enough, aggressive foreign policy by a superpower towards its enemies, without resorting to outright war, preserves peace. The calculus of risk and benefit is slanted in favor of the superpower, which from a realist POV means that a rational state will not go to war or escalate the conflict.
The “realist” line that intimidating Iran and North Korea just makes them want nuclear weapons more ignores the simple facts of causation: the anti-Iran and North Korea policies made by the Bush administration came AFTER their governments began to develop weapons.
On the other note, Obama has shown neither openness nor accommodating behavior to his allies. He has rejected criticism of his domestic and foreign policy by his allies. His etiquette and decorum is a disaster, and his counterparts are realizing that he is poorly educated.
The irony is that the “open” Obama is far more arrogant and ignorant of the outside world than the “cowboy” Bush was.
Here’s the problem: Obama thinks the world revolves around him. He’ll do anything he can to get attention, which means that he’ll publicly denounce the very nation he represents to gain media adoration in Europe and Reuters.
In short, sir, I fail to see how Obama is holding any masterclass other than the one on the art of self-aggrandizement.
Ozymandias,
I did read op/ed pieces in the Frankfurter Allgemeine and in Die Welt criticizing Obama’s total disarmament idea. Let’s see how theTurkey thing goes. BTW, both papers (online) had headlines saying that Turkey won this round with Obama. Multilateral pushback is change I can believe in. Whether Obama’s ego can handle it is another question.
It’s hard to take your criticisms seriously, as you guys gave us Bush the Jr.
During his tenure
-N. Korea went nuclear. (I guess they’re not impressed)
-Iran stayed busy trying to do the same.
-Miramar got brutalized.
-Bush personally went to the Olympics while Tibet suffered another crackdown
– He made a big show of Georgia freedom. Russia put him in his place. “The people of Georgia have cast their lot with the free world, and we will not cast them aside,” Bush said.
– He lost focus on Afghanistan. We’re still busy there. Pakistan manages to suck even worse as an ally.
– He was going to solve that Israel/Pal thing. But we’ll give him a pass, as better men than him already tried.
But you have the nerve to lash out at Obama.
Yes. yes you can, apparently.
@Expat,
I highly recommend “Of Paradise and Power” by Robert Kagan, an eminent political scientist. The book examines the differences in foreign policy between America and Europe and determines that they are deep and not subject to political change in either nation.
One of Kagan’s arguments is that despite rhetoric, Europe secretly likes long-reaching US military operations as they provide a shield against the rest of the world. The reason that a lot of our allies do not send funds or troops to Iraq and Afghanistan is not necessarily because they disapprove. Most Western European social democracies have different values that necessitate the allocation of resources to social welfare rather than military spending. This new theoretical missile defense shield is another example of American concern for European security.
The fact is that there can be no multilateral armed force to provide Europe or other nations with security. There can be multilateral political talks, though the unpopular nature of American unilateralism makes it so that political opposition to American interests is the political norm in countries around the world.
Obama threatens to destroy that method of deterrence and that military defense shield, which you mentioned that some Germans are quite unhappy about. His idealism is not grounded in the geopolitical realities of power politics.
My main question for you is whether you think multilateralism is even possible with or without Obama at the helm of the ship of state?
@Logern,
First of all, when did all of these events that you decry happen? When was Bush “unilateral” and “multilateral”? Fareed Zakaria, who is no friend to conservatives, evidently thought that the Bush Administration in its second term was much more multilateral. Didn’t all of these events happen during the second term? The more “multilateral” term? Do you imagine a possible correlation? Perhaps, causation?
Second, if you think that America can prevent ALL the tragedies in the world from happening, I’m surprised you don’t count yourself a neoconservative. Was Bush’s approach unilateral or hands-off in these countries? How exactly would Obama’s unfocused foreign policy solve all of these crises in these countries?
Third, why was Bush’s policy different during his final term? Lack of political capital? Propaganda by his enemies? Boredom? Sheer spitefulness? Why did America’s enemies think they could get away with all these terrible things?
I’m still looking for the country of Miramar on the map. Maybe you’re thinking about Myanmar (Burma)?
You’re not arguing the issue. Step up and play ball. Simply stating events and implying that they are our fault is an ad hominem attack and is fallacious and careless.
By the way, Bush was the first head of state to publicly condemn the genocide in Darfur and Omar Al-Bashir’s regime.
(no thanks to spell check for Miramar)
Well, if I had to speculate, I’d say Bush rendered himself impotent and expended all his political capital (what little he had) both here and abroad in the wrong war at the wrong time.
So is that his fault. YES. And that started early in the first term.
Furthermore, whether Obama fails or succeeds, it’s still likely that he’ll be able to clear the low bar set by conservative minds of the last administration in foreign policy.
On the world stage, (and the reason I listed that stuff) plenty off tough talk came and went with a net result of what? And the resume’ of conservtive foreign policy success of the last 8 years is what? And, as such, why should we listen to your advice?
If Obama isn’t pursuing that failed policy, then he at least is potentially on a different track.
Oz, expat is saying that it isn’t all adulation for Obama in the European press.
I wouldn’t waste time with Logern. He is clearly out of his depth.
As he himself said in his immortal work about himself, he learned how to con honkies.
So true to form he told his pale-skinned audiences in Europe exactly what they wanted to hear. If there is a pro-USA scheme behind his games then good for Obama, but I wouldn’t bet so much as a penny that anything resembling patriotism is on his mind. He wouldn’t be the first tyrant to charm the world in order to more securely rule at home. Stalin, another exotic, was the master of masters here.
On the other hand, at least on some abstract level the high-roller monsters like Stalin and Hitler liked their countries. This guy doesn’t; maybe that will make him less harmful. We will all find out.
yes, fred, we have to survive the next 4 years so that we can have another CFR transnaional socialist… of course its interesting to hear people running towards a hope that does not exist when both sides of an issue are under control.
there is no rescue next election… as the same structure that created and allowed this will still be in place and will be a lot stronger.
it only takes 18 months on average to change a free state into a chavez type land… and right now everyone is lining up for their monetary pay offs which is what secures the situation next time.
they are smiling and singing happy while cleaning out the cubbord like in a silent movie… oh yes, we just moving this here for a while while we clean it. we is putting it in the back of the pick up truck so we dont have to bend over to pick it up. etc…
by the time the person being lied to decides to act upon what they knew from the first excuse, they are long gone..
why talk about the next election? makes little sense to me as we are being restructured in a latch manner. by the time that election comes it wont mean anything… (or do you think all that money to acorn will be used in a fair outcome? the fix is already in by the same people that put an inexperienced know nothing in place!!!)
@ Logern,
Clearly you have no understanding of foreign policy or international relations if all you can argue for in favor of Obama is that he’s not Bush. That’s very weak.
You still didn’t answer my questions. I argue that your assertion that Bush used “tough talk” during his second term is ignorant of his actual policies.
Obama didn’t go to that church for 20 years for nothing. I think its full name (which is hard to find on the brochures) is “Trinity United…to throw America under the Bus”.
As a famous pamphlet written by Lenin famously asked, “What Is To Be Done”?
Obama & Co. have not yet been in office for 100 days and they and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate have already pushed through revolutionary legislation and a bankrupting budget, effectively nationalized or seized corporations and dismissed a CEO–with more to come, set in motion a vast expansion of the money supply–hello, runaway inflation, are set to pass an energy “cap and trade” policy designed, in the words of Obama, to “bankrupt the coal industry,” which, it is estimated, will double and perhaps triple home electric bills, set in motion White House actions to seize control of both the Census and the ability to shut down parts of the Internet, started the formation of a massive civilian power base, consisting of a series of new or vastly expanded and well-funded “people’s organizations” combined with a massive re-inflation of the welfare class, and will shortly pass a GIVE act requiring “mandatory” public service, funded corrupt, leftist, vote-fixing ACORN with several hundreds of millions of dollars and given them a role in hiring Census enumerators, given the envious and angry among us a class of “enemies of the people” to hate, when Obama personally demonized AIG employees and the entrepreneurial class, displayed conspicuous weakness in foreign policy, just signed an agreement that will effectively place U.S. businesses under EU regulation, literally kowtowed to the Muslim king of Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world, apologized to the world in general for being American, and displayed a level of ignorance, arrogance, and rudeness towards our Allies worse that any I can think of; and this is just the start.
If Obama and the Democrats have their way, by the time the 2010 election rolls around traditional, conservative, capitalistic and free America will not be recognizable, and by the time the 2012 Presidential election rolls around, these drastic changes to America they will have put into place will not be easily uprooted or reversed or–as I am sure Obama intends–may be irreversible, and, by then, it may not be Obama the removable President, but Obama the un-removable Tyrant.
So, what is to be done?
Democrats and the Left have control of the Presidency and both Houses of Congress, the MSM and Academia. The recent action by Democrats to use the “reconciliation” process (a maneuver which allowed them to vote this astronomical Budget through with less votes than they would normally need) to ram through their budget–with Republicans given exactly 20 minutes of debate time to present their alternative budget–shows that they are not going to let the Republican minority have any real chance of blocking, significantly slowing or modifying the “Obama/Marxist/Socialist Revolution.” Because of way Democrats have played it–try as they and their captive MSM will try to deflect responsibility–the disastrous results of all these proposals for America will all be laid at the feet of Obama and the Democratic Party.
Three “Republican” Senator’s votes helped pass the Democrat’s entering wedge, H.R. 1–the $ 700 million dollar Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the yes votes of Arlen Specter, Susan Collins and Olympia Snow. These three traitors will have to be persuaded to vote again as Republicans or be read out of the Party; a Republican Party that, from now on, will have to forget phony “bipartisanship” and vote as a block, to do everything it can to offer truly Conservative alternatives, and to try to block Democratic legislation, if only to clearly establish the record of the Democrat’s sole responsibility for the disastrous changes their legislation will cause.
Some centrist Democrats are already worried. It will be our job to make them so worried about a total repudiation of the Democratic Party, and their defeat, that they themselves will slow and eventually stop this train wreck.
I don’t have any great solutions, butI am sure all of the ingenious folks out there can come up with all sorts of methods of increasing this worry among more centrist Democrats, and of individually making sure that the cars of the Obama and Democratic constructed train that come their way can be “derailed,” but I would say that increasingly large and loud public demonstrations of protest and anger against Obama & Co would be a good place to start
I love this bit of disinformation, straight from the stable floor to us. What exactly would be the right war at the right time? Presumably we would need a Dem in the White House, so that accounts for the time, but where would be the right place?
Log, you’d be the first to stand with the Chinese police as they beat to death Tibetan monks.
How you think you got the stuff to talk about Bush,must be an inevitably production of self-righteousness. Your certainty. Your unbridled pride in Obama, that he cannot be criticized, only a sacrificial goat like Bush or Iraq.
so that accounts for the time, but where would be the right place?
Anywhere where the Left can gain power by exploiting the deaths of others.