Posted on 09/03/2014 2:07:02 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
President Barack Obamas impotent approach to the international crises proliferating around the globe has resulted in a bipartisan barrage of criticisms directed at him and his administration, and its all getting to be just too much to handle for Obamas remaining supporters.
The latest to offend the sensibilities of those for whom the Islamic State is a threat only to our ability to craft convincing moral equivalencies for their abhorrent acts is New Jersey governor and 2016 Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie. According to a report from New York Times journalist and Christie tracker Michael Barbaro, the governor had the temerity recently to suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin would think twice before testing his resolve in the same way he is forever testing our current commander-in-chief.
I dont believe, given who I am, that he would make the same judgment, Christie said of Putins brazen revanchism and military land grabs in Europe. Lets just leave it at that.
Barbaro is sure to let the reader know that this impractical display of bravado repulsed the urbane and erudite crowd who attended the confidential meeting of Republican activists where Christie spoke.
One attendee described Mr. Christies answer as disturbingly heavy on swagger and light on substance, Barbaro reported. Another called it uncomfortable to watch.
Shockingly, the reaction expressed by these two Republican activists precisely mirrored the reactions of liberal columnists and MSNBC commentators. Serendipity!
Writing on what he considered Christies gaffe, The New Republics Brian Beutler determined that Christie had declared his intention as president to violate Obamas one and only rule: Dont do stupid s**t.
Say what you will about the tenets of not doing stupid s**t, at least its an ethos, Beutler wrote, in an homage to The Big Lebowskis Walter Sobchak. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, by contrast, appears to have taken his organizing foreign policy principle from Travis Bickle.
Ah, movies. Only in Hollywood, you see, does Christie-esque lets call it audacity suffice as a foreign policy. Well, in movies and in the Kremlin, too. But only those Neanderthals without a degree from Harvards Kennedy School would consider this a deliberative approach to foreign affairs.
Beutler was not alone in scoffing at Christies attempt to strike a contrast with Obama. MSNBCs Morning Joe hosts observed that the true test of our time is the fact that the governor of the Garden State does not have a coherent policy to address Russias six-month-old invasion of its European neighbor.
When hes in Trenton, that swagger works, Joe Scarborough said. Outside of Trenton, you get him on foreign policy, he gets in trouble.
Outside of that comfort zone, a lot of people are saying its a mile wide and an inch deep, the host said of Christies understanding of nuanced foreign affairs.
Andrea Mitchell, NBCs resident foreign policy expert, described Christies display of braggadocio as a kind of tough guy attitude though not necessarily a foreign policy.
On her program, The Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart noted that The New York Times made it perfectly clear exactly how the reader should feel about Christies remarks. He dutifully repeated Barbaros conclusions. Folks want to hear the substance and its clear governor Christie doesnt have the substance yet, Capehart said.
These are not entirely unfair criticisms. Christie has spent a fair amount of time with Republican foreign policy heavyweights like Condoleezza Rice and Henry Kissinger in the effort to bone up on global affairs. But Christie has time to learn the specifics. The president, meanwhile, has had five years to learn on the job how the world works, and it is unclear that he has internalized any of the many lessons he has been taught while in office.
In the meantime, a little bravado is not such an unwelcome thing. As the Islamic States beheading campaign has revealed, the American intelligentsias quest to redefine American foreign policy as expressly anti-George W. Bush has also sacrificed moral clarity.
The ISIS threat has cleared the post-Iraq War hangover, and America is once again warming to necessary military interventions abroad. The universal squeals from the center-left press over Christies comments suggests they fear that the public may also miss seeing a little old fashioned American swagger in the Oval Office.
Both ISIS and Mr. Putin know that feckless blowhard buffoons come in both skinny and large sizes.
Christine is an idiot
Too true. Bad enough Christie mocked God by claiming his tiny state is “stronger than the storm” (Sandy).
Not sure about Christie, but compared to the Bush administrations, obama looks like lunch.
The guy who said, “Islam is THE religion of peace,” but never said Christianity is equal.
They would not have to test Fatso,just send him a box of Dunkin Donuts.
Shaddup fat boi Crispy Creme.
Bear meets walrus.
Iranians crapped on jimmy carter cause they knew they could.
Reagan, not so much.
obammy? oh hell yeah. Every tin horn outfit KNOWS they can crap on ears.
You know what Chris?
Fat people have self control issues
You wouldn’t be a good President
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