Posted on 08/31/2013 12:26:48 PM PDT by nathanbedford
We have just witnessed one of the most stunning and humiliating climb downs of any president in the history of the United States. Obama's humiliation is entirely of his own making.
He unilaterally threatened to wage war, however limited he said it would be, for no clear purpose, with no clear strategy and with no clear outcome. He did so thoughtlessly by proclaiming a "red line" and thus backing himself through inadvertence and, more important, his country into an untenable position. He pushed the country out onto a limb only to find he was alone, without allies, without Congress, even without his own party. He bumbled and dithered away is friends and allies and in the process squandered the prestige of the United States of America.
His humiliation is not, alas, his alone but it is the mile marker for a journey of fecklessness and incoherence in American foreign policy which has resulted in an Islamicist threat running from China to the North African shores. He has made our country look weak in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Libya, and in Egypt. Most important, he has made us look impotent with respect to Iran and it is Iran, not Egypt, which is the fulcrum of the Middle East. Who can now believe that the United States under President Barack Obama will actually "do what it takes" to stop Iran getting the bomb? No conservative has believed that for years but now the nations of the Middle East which line the Persian Gulf and the Arab Peninsula must be afraid, very afraid. Iran will, of course, be emboldened. The Russians and the Chinese are smirking. Our allies in Europe are beginning to wonder if they should cut their own deals with the threat of Islam because they cannot rely on the United States.
So before we conservatives rejoice over the personal humiliation of Barack Obama, let us consider as patriots the harm to our country. The irony is that no one will now hear us say, "we told you so;" it is human nature not to want to hear that kind of truth. We conservatives are always being shot as messengers.
Short-term it is obvious that the entire campaign to sting Syria for the use of weapons of mass destruction will now be allowed to simply wither away. By the time Congress returns many new headlines will have diverted the attention of the nation. The Congress will not sustain a strike. Obama will somehow change the subject.
Our leaders in the House and the Senate are paid not to let Obama off his own petard.
The question for conservatives is how to use this situation for domestic political advantage. We have an objective to prevent any kind of immigration bill being passed by the House and sent to conference committee where conservatives will be sabotaged and outvoted by Rinos and Democrats when the bill is returned. The result will be amnesty and it is therefore vital that no bill at all be passed by the House. This is Boehner's chance to wiggle out of his dilemma and use the breathtaking mismanagement of the president to consume Congress and prevent the house from taking up immigration. That, of course, assumes that Boehner is smart enough to take that way out instead of rupturing the party by passing amnesty, as seems to be his plan.
Boehner has also got to handle both the campaign to defund Obamacare and the overall extension of the debt. Boehner should recognize that the president has been weakened as well as humiliated, but one would have to recklessly rely on hope rather than experience in nurturing that kind of optimism.
If we had decent Republican leaders in the House or the Senate, we could see this as a real turning point. I am not holding my breath.
As near as I can tell, the puppet masters share the regime -- native Communists calling the domestic shots, radical Islamists in control of American foreign policy.
Nonetheless, I don't doubt that Obama himself is in full accord: he is a professional left-wing radical who is also highly sympathetic to the radical Islamist worldview.
Perhaps, he is a closet Muslim himself -- I wouldn't be surprised. But I'm more inclined to believe he is an atheist, with pronounced sympathies for aggrieved Islamists.
I agree with you it just amazes how they can spin and twist reality to make the pres a genius.
I don’t think they have to “save face” from the posts i have seen over at DU he is a political genius they reckon..
“The harm was already done in 2008. This is just the end result.”
I hope you’re right, but fear you are not. We’re still dealing with the repercussions of the Carter years how many years after the fact? We can trace the current Syrian war directly back to Iran and Iran directly back to President Carter.
My cloudy crystal ball tells me the nation will be paying for Obama’s epic foreign policy failures for decades to come.
What poor sap is going before congress to plead the administration’s case for an attack?
If it can be proven beyond a doubt that Assad gassed his own civilians then action should be taken against Assad's person and military assets
Only Obama could get Liberal Democrats to vote for a unilateral attack against a sovereign nation. We'll know who to blame for the YouTube images of butchered children wrapped in bloody white sheets.
And what insight do you have into negotiations between the congress and the administration on this matter? I would rather have results and less talk.
“...NOBODY will rob me of the pleasure of gloating at Obama’s humiliation.”
I already accuse my liberal relatives of supporting Obama’s Illegal war in Libya on behalf of European oil companies.
Rub their face in their ideological crap using their own political rhetoric against. Demand they live up to their own ideals. I don’t actually call them hypocrites outright, “...but you’re one thing and doing another.”
After all, silence is agreement, right?
“Aren’t you and Obama supporting big Saudi oil here? I thought you guys were against that?”
“Hey, I’m confused, I thought you liberals supported the peace movement because you were against war?”
“Dude, Libya/Syria didn’t attack us and the UN didn’t authorize it, doesn’t that make Obama a war criminal in your world?”
“So why is it ok for Obama-bombs to kill civilians, but not Bush-bombs?” (My relative actually argued that Obama-bombs we’re “less bad”, but not worse than Bush-bombs)
“Why is Obama stealing Libyan oil?”
“You realize that more American citizens have been executed without due process in drone strikes by President Obama than all the terrorists waterboarded by President Bush?”
“Dude, Iran/Contra was 30 years ago and people went to prison for it. I get so tired of you bringing that up every time we discuss politics.”
"Alinsky you magnificent bastard, I read your book!"
My insight is for 10 days Bonehead and McConnell have been silent.
Both could have held a press conference to demand a vote. They didn’t.
Both could have demanded a slow down. They didn’t.
Both could have demanded more intel. They didn’t. They have not led
any opposition because they agreed with Zero.
Only after Obama has thrown it back to them, have they broke their silence.
Lets see how the RINO’s now vote. My prediction. The RINO’s will use many excuses to vote no and run for high grass. In other words, it won’t pass. What’s your prediction?
BTW, negoiating with Obama on what? For who were they negoiating for?
“...Obama and the entire American foreign policy establishment demanded that Hondurans abandon their constitution...”
Great memory and great observation.
“I agreed with the second gulf war, up until Saddam was hanged.”
I was wary of Iraq and supportive of Afghanistan, but thought we should have left once the Taliban were toppled and turn everything over to the Northern Alliance (our dictators). The lesson of Iraq has been learned.
But I’m curious why the hanging of Saddam turned your thinking?
For once the system has seemed to work, the administration will have to prove it's position to the people.
“Alinsky you magnificent bastard, I read your book!”
Power to the people, right on!
Ridicule works too. I stole this one from something I read recently, “Hey, I think I know what happened to all the war protesters, global warming killed them.”
“Omg, do you realize that if we don’t do something, global tectonics will destroy us all? Stop continental drift!”
Wouldn't doubt it either. He has publicly stated that push come to shove, he'd back the Muslims. IMO, though he may have started out as somewhat decent, he is evolving into some sort of Baal worshipping anti-Christian tyrant. For the sake of America, I do hope I'm wrong. But how can any right thinking, God fearing, human being possibly support murdering the innocent - partial birth, late term, or otherwise?
Obama conflated electoral bluster with actual international relations. He’s an amateur and in no way capable of making a decision that doesn’t have some sort of community organizer angle to it.
When he speaks, he forgets he’s the president of the US and not a street agitator and fails to respect the office he holds. His words have meaning longer than he means them to have.
But at least we don’t have Romney.. that would have been a disaster.
Amazed to see a sitting American President FOLLOW David Cameron decision for approval. You don’t tell the World it’s “With you or Without you” and turn around follow the path of another leader. He has no leadership skills.
He had SIX months since he “draw the Red Line” to do something. Instead he fumbled.
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