The training wheels never came off.
Posted on 08/30/2014 9:39:36 AM PDT by Steelfish
The Meltdown 09.01.14 Bret Stephens
In July, after Germany trounced Brazil 7–1 in the semifinal match of the World Cup—including a first-half stretch in which the Brazilian soccer squad gave up an astonishing five goals in 19 minutes—a sports commentator wrote: “This was not a team losing. It was a dream dying.” These words could equally describe what has become of Barack Obama’s foreign policy since his second inauguration. The president, according to the infatuated view of his political aides and media flatterers, was supposed to be playing o jogo bonito, the beautiful game—ending wars, pressing resets, pursuing pivots, and restoring America’s good name abroad.
Instead, he crumbled.
As I write, the foreign policy of the United States is in a state of unprecedented disarray. In some cases, failed policy has given way to an absence of policy. So it is in Libya, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and, at least until recently, Ukraine. In other cases the president has doubled down on failed policy—extending nuclear negotiations with Iran; announcing the full withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
You make some good points but I believe it’s possible he will be made a martyr. He’s out of control and more of a detriment than an asset to the ‘powers that be’ agenda.
Politicians and lawyers. Never make anything simple. Never make anything honest. Always put in a loophole.
Yeah, I stopped reading at his obligatory slam of Sarah Palin, who has more brains in her mucklucks than Barry has altogether.
ISIS might try and claim that, but if you read their history over the last couple hundred years, NOBODY outside Afghan is really ever gonna run that place.
You might enjoy this: http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Man_Who_Would_Be_King.html?id=R2Q51iIenvEC
Brief, pithy quote from very long article:
the failure of Obama’s foreign policy is not, ultimately, a reflection of his character or IQ. It is the consequence of an ideology…. That ideology is what now goes by the name of progressivism, which has effectively been the dominant (if often disavowed) view of the Democratic Party since George McGovern ran on a “Come Home, America” platform in 1972—and got 37.5 percent of the popular vote. Progressivism believes that the United States must lead internationally by example (especially when it comes to nuclear-arms control); that the U.S. is as much the sinner as it is the sinned against when it comes to our adversaries (remember Mosaddegh?); and that the American interest is best served when it is merged with, or subsumed by, the global interest (ideally in the form of a UN resolution).
………………
Above all, progressivism believes that the United States is a country that, in nearly every respect, treads too heavily on the Earth: environmentally, ideologically, militarily, and geopolitically. The goal, therefore, is to reduce America’s footprint; to “retrench,” as the administration would like to think of it, or to retreat, as it might more accurately be called.
The author of the piece has a book coming out that sounds like a good one: America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder. It will be published by Sentinel in November.
+1.
Agree. Unfortunately its only a fractional small minority who are literate today in the real sense to read and comprehend what Bret is writing about. Most cannot name who the vice-president is, or the speaker of the House, or the Chief Justice or would know in what continent some major countries are located in. These are the empty vessels who absorb the “hope and change” rhetoric and have been given the right to vote. Many of them are illegals or Somalians who cannot read or write English.
They’re running it from Pakistan now.
Easy to envision ISIS Taliban alliance or ISIS takeover of Kabul.
If we don’t decimate ISIS they are far from finished.
The training wheels never came off.
It won't even take a battle, and no other country will be willing to fight there again. Question....what's to keep the Caliphate from spreading into Pakistan?
Please note the author's emphasis on ideology as the root of Obama's problem rather than detachment or some other psycho babble
And even though he is obviously incapable or unwilling to undertake competent action, his party and press apparatus will never openly admit it.
If he could run for a third term, he would win, both because this nation is too clueless to objectively evaluate him but also because he is likely to face an opponent whose chief attribute is losing gracefully.
My wife pretty much summed up Obama when she said “Obama is a pussy.”
easier than waiting for nukes from Iran.
I agree. The supposedly conservative women in the US Senate and Goevernorships seem to have no commitment whatsoever to the conservative principles they campaigned on.
I'm thinking that I'd like to see how woman who were officers in the military do in these leadership roles. But even with them, I'd never go with a woman for Pres or VP who's conviction, resolve, independent thought, and effective leadership haven't been tested.
This feels like 1913.
**********
Yep. (Bible refers to) every generation must face the sword. The world has been mostly quiet since the Cold War ended.
Enjoy this lull why you can;once all hell breaks loose it won’t stop for several years.imo
No, it is just NeoCon bullcorn.
It was just a few weeks ago they were swarming the TV wanting to re-invade Iraq. Bill Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Paul Bremmer, John Bolton, etc.
They want to spend 2 trillion more, kill and maim even more servicemen, so we can prop up a corrupt govt.
The NeoCons have never been right about anything.
You need to put up your best NeoCon for prez in 2016. Who will it be? John McCain? Lindsey Graham? Dick Cheney? Mitt Romney?
Hillary quit 2 years ago, which was step 1. Step 2: urban media stops covering up Barky's incompetence, then lets his meltdown jell in public opinion. Step 3: nonchalantly point out that Hillary was the magic of his first term. Step 4: America gets a second homosexual socialist president for the next 8 years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.