Obama: still the blame duck
One of Obama’s biggest failings as president has been the rise of ISIS under his watch. He can blame it on George Bush, as is his wont, and some will swallow it. But it’s a little more difficult to do than in many other circumstances because Obama and his administration are on record as saying that, when they engineered the withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, the country was in good shape. That makes it hard for many voters—even some who generally support Obama—to avoid drawing the conclusion that he missed the boat on this one, and that his own actions (and/or inactions) have largely contributed to ISIS’ ability to gain power and territory.
But never fear. Obama has many arrows of blame in his quiver. This time it’s the intelligence community that failed him:
…[I]n an interview that aired Sunday evening, the president told 60 Minutes that the rise of the group now proclaiming itself a caliphate in territory between Syria and Iraq caught the U.S. intelligence community off guard. Obama specifically blamed James Clapper, the current director of national intelligence: “Our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that, I think, they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” he said.
It’s an interesting ploy on the part of Obama. In order to counter it, the listener would have to have a fair amount of specific information about what our intelligence knew and when, and what the president was actually told.
And it has that superficial grain of truth that makes it plausible if you don’t dig too deeply. After all, Clapper did say that “he [had] underestimated the will of the ISIS fighters in Iraq and overestimated the ability of Iraq’s security forces in northern Iraq to counter ISIS.” But “he also said his analysts warned about the ‘prowess and capability’ of the group.” They warned over and over, for months—some of it in hearings that occurred in January and February, and are a matter of public record—and still Obama did nothing. He also did nothing after the threat and its scope was obvious and required no warning; even the casual observer could see the danger after the group took over Fallujah, for example.
So Obama was warned before it became obvious, and even after it became obvious he dawdled and pondered until the threat was overwhelming and would be far, far more difficult to counter. But Obama is both constitutionally unable and generally unwilling to take the blame for anything, ever, and so he must find someone else to blame.
The fact that we’ve gotten very used to this trait of Obama’s tends to obscure how very uncommon it was in presidents prior to Obama. It’s not just that Truman made the opposite behavior famous with his “The buck stops here” desk sign, it’s that taking responsibility used to be required of presidents by the public, and all this blaming would have been considered weak and—that overused word—“unpresidential.”
No more, as I pointed out in 2010:
…[Obama has a] repetitive need to pass the buck and make excuses.
It was one of the very first things I noticed about Obama, and it later moved me to coin the descriptive name for him that appears in the title of this post: the blame duck.
It’s not just the blaming and the excuse-making itself, it’s the fact that such behavior is unprecedented in a president in my lifetime. What’s more, it’s that nearly half of the American public isn’t yet turned off by this sort of thing in a POTUS. Back when I was growing up, such an approach by a president would be unthinkable and even (yes, I know this isn’t PC) unmanly. It just wasn’t done; it was weak and unseemly and showed lack of leadership.
The fact that it now seems acceptable is probably a result of the decades-long abdication of the idea of personal responsibility, beginning in the school system with the self-esteem movement. Obama may be the first president who not only is a product of that system, but more importantly, was elected by people raised in that system. He knows his audience well.
So Obama is to blame for his blaming. But the American public is to blame for rewarding him for it.
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Obama: “It’s everyone’s fault but mine. Just repeat that over and over and I’ll fill find.”
That should be “feel fine.”
Obama’s ‘arrows of blame’ has a limited shelf-life. Our open southern borders and allowing American ISIS fighters to return, guarantees a rash of Oklahoma style attacks and ensures that Islamic terrorist cells will be conducting a campaign of terrorist attacks. Israel’s reality is soon to be ours and, that is when ‘the buck’ of responsibility will land firmly upon Obama’s desk. Excuses aren’t going to cut it when Americans begin dying of beheadings in American shopping malls. His dropping poll numbers among ‘security moms’ is the canary in the political coal mine.
It’s that nearly half of the American public is to blame for rewarding him for it. And they reward him, by holding him blameless, as insulation against their own abdication of responsibility.
Nor is this entirely new, Chamberlain was an appeaser but until Hitler’s invasion of Poland, the majority of the British supported Chamberlain. Accountability was never demanded of that public, even after the war, in fact, shortly after the war, that same public threw out Churchill because he wasn’t socialist enough. In mainland Europe, they made nationalism the philosophical scapegoat, rather than confront their own moral cowardice in failing to confront evil before it gained unstoppable momentum.
Is it really such a surprise that such a populace would return to antisemitism?
Is it really a surprise that Americans who reject personal responsibility are completely unprepared for the coming consequences of their actions?
So Obama is to blame for his blaming. But the American public is to blame for rewarding him for it.
Does that not, then, suggest the US has no business taking on foreign adventures? Does that not suggest Conservatives should be working to put in office candidates who aspire to make of our legislature a ‘do nothing’ Congress? Does that not suggest that “don’t just stand there, do something” candidates should be given less than short shrift and be eliminated from all consideration? Does that not suggest a pathological liar and his enablers have made this country unfit for the world stage? Does that not suggest this country will get bitten, gnawed, and mauled by the likes of Putin, China, ISIL, Islam? Does that not suggest that the US should adopt a ‘Fortress America’ attitude? The sage pig built a house of brick and lived happily ever after.
The sign on his desk: “The buck stops here for a transfer.”
If a nuke is detonated in Daley Plaza the true believers will still blame GWB and hold bho blameless. However, as GB notes a majority will find that narrative to be highly questionable.
IMO IS is a game changer, and more cunning than other jihad organizations. They seem more intent on territory and creating a climate of fear by openly displaying their brutality and disregard for human life. And it is working, there have been beheadings in recent months in the UK and here at home. There will be more and more lone wolf attacks as IS propaganda inspires angry, domestic wannabe jihadists.
Team obama has no desire to “take out” IS. The campaign looks good on CNN and allows the chattering class to yammer about how decisive dear leader is, but these bombing raids and training farmers, doctors, and boot makers will come to nought.
George Pal at 2:53 pm,
Categorize all action outside our borders as “foreign adventures” and you ensure that more attacks will occur on American soil.
A “do nothing Congress” is exactly what we don’t need, the only thing worse than a ‘do nothing’ Congress is one that does the wrong things. We need a Congress that will act to deconstruct the bloated entitlement and regulatory State we have allowed to be created. We need a Congress that will pass a balanced budget amendment. We need a Congress that shall find a way to hold accountable the MSM’s seditious ‘reportage’ and academia’s twisted perversion of education. We need a Congress that will end our fiat money system, disconnect the Fed from the money supply rightfully returning it to Congress and abolish the IRS and 65% of Federal agencies.
A “pathological liar and his enablers have made this country unfit for the world stage” but there is NO other alternative. If America retreats far enough, the world as we know it ends and evil triumphs.
The likes of Putin, China, ISIL and Islam can be easily beaten by a resurgent America. They aren’t beating us, we’re surrendering to them.
A “Fortress America” attitude is the path to the inner tyranny of martial law.
Adults who embrace children’s tales are a sure sign of someone who rejects reality.
Parker ALL Muslim armies in a Muslim civil war MUST be organized along Islamic lines of inspiration.
This means that there can NEVER be a secular-Muslim army.
It also means that every recruit is preordained to become a fulsome jihadi. It’s the way they roll.
Memetics have consequences:
http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2007/10/terrifying-brilliance-of-islamic.html
Scroll past his elaboration of what a meme is to get to the heart of why it’s IMPOSSIBLE for Barry to craft a secular Arab army.
The ONLY source for secularism in Syria is the socialist despot: Assad.
Even the “FSA” is a total fake. It’s a FRONT. It doesn’t have ANY actual troops. It’s pure media operations 100% of the time.
If you peal back the covers, you’ll find that ALL of its fighting elements are “affiliates” and that its “top commander” has NO line authority whatsoever. He was selected because of his ‘legend’ — in the spy-world sense.
ALL FSA materials are captured — Hogan Heroes style — by ISIS. This has happened repeatedly.
All of the Congressional funding is destined to fund ISIS.
EVERYONE in the Middle East thinks so.
Even at this hour, Barry is not bombing the M-1 tanks and M-198 howitzers that ISIS has snapped up. BTW. M-1 tanks CAN burn crude oil directly — unrefined!
That was one of the key design reasons why it was equipped with a turbine engine! Fighting in the Arabian desert was ENTIRELY anticipated — from the very start. The interruption of refined fuel supplies was entirely foreseen, as the trip back to America is a long one.
All of the above design concerns hail from the II Corps in North Africa during 1942-43. Ike, Patton and Bradley all found that supplying the Shermans with enough gasoline in the hot desert was a nightmare. This difficulty has been suppressed — omitted from the histories.
Why? Gasoline vaporizes like crazy in that desert climate. You can prove that your self. Heat up a pie plate to 160 degrees and try and pour gasoline into it.
What the II Corps found is that gasoline was fuming out of every gas tank in hot weather. The only fix was to use even more gasoline — and to only fill up in the early morning. It was quickly learned that it’s actually impossible to fuel up a hot tank.
Which brings us back to the Abrams turbine. You CAN fuel it up — with middle distillate / diesel fuel while it’s hot. That’s Diesel’s combat advantage.
What this means right now is that we can’t stop ISIS from keeping captured tanks from running out of fuel. We’re going to HAVE to destroy them with Hellfires — designed expressly to do exactly that. They weren’t designed to shoot up jihadis in Pakistan.
As to why we’re not using our drone fleet over ISIS: crickets.
We should be hearing of a constant rain of Hellfires taking out captured tanks and prime movers. Instead, the USAF / USN is being vectored over to publicity shots/ shoots.
We’re being Barry’d again!
I agree that America can not retreat into some imaginary fortress. However, there is no consensus (far from it) to turn towards Geoffrey’s wish list, although I agree with every item on the list. We as a society are headed towards even more turbulent times. I fear for my grandchildren. Yet, we have to keep trying to move towards a more positive future. There is nothing else to do other than give in to despair.
It’s an open secret: Barry is — literally — calling the shots — LBJ style.
He’s obviously not approving any Hellfire strikes against (his) proxy army — ISIS.
ISIS is actually carrying out all of Barry’s desires — as they were a year ago.
1) Crushing al Nusrah
2) Deposing al Maliki
3) Pushing back Assad
If it weren’t for the bad optics and the November vote, Barry Soetoro wouldn’t have done ANYTHING at this point.
His hand is being forced.
This is why we’re seeing a media-centric military ‘campaign.’
ISIS is also responding to Erdogan’s desires to eliminate Syrian Kurds.
There is no question but what ISIS and Erdogan have come to an ‘arrangement’ over the issue. All of the Turkish hostages have been freed — ‘no charge’ — and the anti-Kurd campaign fired right on up. At the same time a FLOOD of new weapons and more was shipped by train to ISIS — stopping just north of the Syrian border. This delivery is the source of the ordnance that is pounding Kurdish Syria. That pocket, BTW, is now largely reduced to a single city-enclave. The Kurds, obviously, had no military barriers preventing Sunni attacks — and no way to counter Sunni heavy weapons.
For Barry, the Kurds are in the way — of making his omelet.
(What ever you do, don’t stand there looking like an egg!)
Tom Maguire over at JustOneMinute reminds us of an earlier take-charge Obama:
blert,
Agreed, Obama’s not targeting the M-1 tanks and M-198 howitzers that ISIS has snapped up is proof positive that it’s all show with Obama having no intent to actually degrade ISIS. The media is, as usual assisting in this charade by not reporting on the civilian deaths where Obama is actually bombing while touting the supposed effectiveness of the bombing.
parker,
Fully agree as to the lack of consensus, that’s a given with nearly half of America opposed to my laundry list. We’re also in agreement as to the high probability of even more turbulent times.
Ann,
It’s tragic not ‘sad’ because other than politically, the ‘take charge’ Obama has never existed. I’m willing to bet that his “repeated” meetings occurred maybe 2-3 times. I’ll bet he didn’t spend an hour total on the issue. He listened to a report(s), asked whether Intel was solid enough to take out bin Ladin, then told them to continue and get back to him when they were certain. Then he held off until the timing was politically advantageous. Then someone in his administration tipped off the Taliban on where and when they could ambush Seal Team Six, they were purposely sacrificed so as to increase the prospects for a ‘negotiated’ settlement. Which would be one where the Taliban held off retaking Afghanistan until we had left. All to give Obama political cover.
Within arab and most other islamic societies there is no there there. They have not truly progressed beyond the 8th century when they assimilated the science and math of India and Greece and pretended it was their own invention. They are tribal, ignorant, and fueled by the death cult of mohammed. All they have given the modern age is clitoridectomy, stonings, beheadings, and intolerance. There is no room for reconciliation between what fuels islam and the values of the west. Despite the chattering, this is a war of civilization versus a tribal death cult.
Just up on Drudge;
Obama has had accurate intelligence about ISIS since BEFORE the 2012 election, says administration insider
Geoffrey Britain,
That “sad” by Tom Maguire is tongue-in-cheek.
Geoffrey Britain @3:41:
Speaking of reality.
You are a preternaturally sanguine fellow. Congress should indeed do all you (and I) believe necessary but they will not. Congress is up to its dome in idiot-schmucks; and unprincipled self-enrichers, the ethically aloof; and run-of-the-diploma-mill airheads and jackasses. I would think, under the present circumstances, the first thing to be done would be to stem the tide, stay the destructive impulse.
There is an alternative to our foreign adventures – first thing, acquaint ourselves with reality. We have mucked up every impulse given into to making the world a better place. Iraq is not better off for our ridding them of evil; Afghanistan is not better off; going all the way back to Reagan, Beirut was not made better by our peacekeeping Marines. We are muck ups of a high order. There is nothing worse than that which we are presently besieged — great intentions and great expectations. To hear such coming from the other side, our side, is to despair.
A “Fortress America” attitude is the path to the inner tyranny of martial law.
You have either jumped the tracks or have in mind something other than that which I have. I would not entrust those whose own house is bedlam, to make the world a better place. If you believe evil is a specter that only haunts foreign hell holes then you have obviously not been paying attention to the goings on here. There is no shame to putting our house in order first. We will be no small example to other countries of the West in doing so.
The rest of the world will have to fend for itself for the first time in over a half century. About time.
Obama is or might as well be a member of the muslim brotherhood, same goes for vj. Soros like a spider holds them all within a sticky web. Bho was their perfect candidate. A (supposedly) blank slate of hope, change, sea levels, and he was the one we have been waiting for. Apparently, kool-aid is far more popular than imagined.
George,
Prior to Nov of 2012 I was an optimistic fellow. Since then decidedly otherwise. IMO, it’s not nearly enough to “stem the tide” we are far past the point where half-measures or ‘first do no harm’ will suffice. You are correct of course that Congress will do none of the things I surmise as necessary to the survival of the Republic. Humanity has spoken and they have decided that misery shall be their lot, that if all cannot succeed, none shall (except for the favored few of course).
If we have “mucked up every impulse given into to making the world a better place” it is primarily due to the machinations of the left and the left shall cunningly turn any impulse toward a ‘fortress’ America into tyranny. That is so because only fear will be sufficient enough to turn a majority of Americans inward and fear is always manipulable.
I certainly do not “believe evil is a specter that only haunts foreign hell holes” we have more than our fair share of evil, for evil is always drawn to power.
No, there is no shame to putting our house in order first. But given current circumstance, that is not possible within our Constitutional framework. Those who would destroy America long ago figured out how to use her institutions against her, starting with Gramsci.
The thing to understand about the hard core left is that they are the human equivalent of rabid dogs in that there is no saving them, no cure, no reconciliation or rehabilitating them because the psychological qualities that led them to accept leftist memes are not amenable to persuasion. As they are literally in denial of the reality within which they exist.
Given the quality of their machinations, we cannot deal with them legally, constitutionally but as that is what we are fighting for our hands are effectively constrained. So things will get worse until it all falls apart and then, those with the logistical resources, the will and the required ruthlessness will prevail.
Still think I’m an optimist?
If we lack the will power to win a clash of civilizations over there, what says we have the will to win a clash of civilizations here?
Geoffrey Britain,
Still think I’m an optimist?
You’ve convinced me. Though in the tableau you present would it not be better to pick our fights with our own best interests foremost and leave the foreign adventures to those whom it directly concerns and those whose hubris is as titanic as our own.
Eric,
You have it half-assed backwards. Unless we first have the will to win a clash of civilizations here, we will be in no condition, we will not have the wherewithal, let alone the will, to fight anywhere. We are already spent.
We certainly need to pick our fights carefully. In addition to the dangers of isolationism I’ve already mentioned, another problem with a fortress America mind-set is the abandonment of the Pax Americana and the economic consequences of that abandonment.
I don’t buy the assertion that it is ‘titanic hubris’ that has led to American interventions around the world. In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of even one that would fully qualify.
And while I agree that our first priority should be winning the fight here, I don’t accept the premise that “We are already spent”. That apparent condition is the result of decades of seditious MSM reportage and leftist democrat machinations. We haven’t yet dug deep but when sufficient motivation is applied, America will reveal unexplored depths for the societal prospect of being hanged concentrates the public’s mind as wonderfully as an individual’s. Just as Dunkirk did for the Brits.
So I’ll confess, while I’m pessimistic about our near future, in the long run, good always triumphs over evil because evil is self-defeating and unwilling to sacrifice itself for the greater good. (Jihadist martyrdom is selfish pursuit of paradise)
In case you haven’t seen it, yesterday on Twitter Ron Fournier parsed Obama’s 60 Minutes interview:
“… such an approach by a president would be unthinkable and even (yes, I know this isn’t PC) unmanly. It just wasn’t done; it was weak and unseemly and showed lack of leadership.”
Spot on. It is weak and unmanly (and unwomanly) and shows lack of leadership.
For this reason I believe we will see a wave of negative truths about this administration put forth in books and interviews unlike we’ve ever had before. It will definitely occur after 2016, but we’ll see some defectors (~whistle blowers) before then. Obama’s staff know he will readily through them under the bus at the first sign of expediency. As soon as they are free to speak openly about what really goes on behind the scenes they will return the favor. He has done nothing to instill loyalty in those he manages.
(Sorry about the typos. Not getting much sleep lately…)
“A new report by the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) reveals that Obama has skipped 57.9% of these briefings, known officially as Presidential Daily Briefs (PDB), in the 2,079 days of his presidency to date.”
Poor Obama. He is the perpetual victim. He has the worst case of innocent bystander I ever saw.
George Pal,
2 sides of the same coin.
If we can’t even muster the will to counter a clearly antithetical, proseltyzing and spreading, barbaric – even evil – activist movement over there, then how can you expect us to counter indigenous social cultural/political activist movements that look like, sound like, and talk like us here?
In the activist game, you need the paradigm of good guys and bad guys and good guys contesting bad guys, and the self-certainty we are the good guys and they are the bad guys. We yield to the bad guys over there, we break the paradigm we need to win here.
parker Says:
September 29th, 2014 at 7:08 pm
“Obama is or might as well be a member of the muslim brotherhood, same goes for vj. Soros like a spider holds them all within a sticky web. Bho was their perfect candidate.”
%%%
I don’t know how much credence to put with this tale: But I’ve read that Barry can’t stand Soros’ company.
When they’re together George Soros is doing 98% of the talking.
Barry can’t stand that.
Further, if George is talking — then he’s talking w a a a a y over Barry’s head.
(Listen to George Soros on any topic, you’ll see what I mean.)
&&&
Against that dynamic, Soros is chronically visiting the White House — off the record.
So, I have to assume that Soros has some players in the White House that can follow instructions.
As for Barry, in many respects, he’s a perpetual loose cannon. I don’t think that he can bear to take a straight up course of action.
I think he steeples his fingers and — being smarter than anyone on the planet — come up with another ‘faculty-lounge’ solution, magical thinking at its finest.
This tick makes American (Barry’d) policy quite random. He HAS to spin away from orthodoxy — even if it’s his own faction’s.
Barry wants to assume a god-like gaze downward upon the ‘petty’ issues of governance. Can’t we just all play along?
Lame duck Presidents came about due to the fact that either Congress overrode their veto or they refused to use the pardon system.
But the power of Presidents was still there, people just didn’t want to use it due to patriotism or other limitations.
For example, a lame duck President could write blank pardons for any number of things, and people would do them. Lame duck? Not yet.
I must say, it is no exaggeration at all to consider this man to be “ruining” the country. What sounds like hyperbole is actually – fact. The ISIS threat is probably going to have us going into WWIII or maybe, having a horrible terrorist attack on one of our cities. I hope not, however…
I am reading backwards from your most recent posts, since I have been busy and negligent of reading, though I have wanted to. I know people are starting to wake up to the fact that this guy blew it big time. The blame game just makes him absolutely despicable in my book.
I think you have the right idea when you state that he grew up not believing in “accountability” and being more into this “self-esteem”. And, he was elected by a population that accepts that as well. Well not everyone, but it is wide-spread.