Posted on 06/06/2014 8:35:31 AM PDT by Ooh-Ah
If the Bergdahl uproar feels creepily reminiscent of the Benghazi uproar, or the Syrian "red line" uproar, or the choose-your-own- Obama -foreign-adventure uproar, it's because they all have a common denominator. This is what happens when political hacks formally take over foreign policy.
It's the "formal" point that bears some meditation. Barack Obama isn't the first president to make foreign-policy decisions on the basis of domestic political calculations. He does, however, win the distinction of being the first president to utterly disregard—to treat with contempt—the institutions and procedures that were designed to help the commander in chief insulate the serious business of foreign policy and national security from baser political concerns.
At the heart of this effort is the National Security Council, which has served presidents since its inception under Harry Truman. ...the NSC has been by procedure and fierce tradition a rare apolitical forum, a place for the president to hear hard reality. NSC staff are foreign-policy grownups, and its meetings are barred to political henchmen.
... President Obama's first national security adviser, former Marine General and NATO Commander Jim Jones, left after only two years following clashes with Mr. Obama's inner circle.
He was replaced by Democratic political operative and former Fannie Mae lobbyist Tom Donilon. Mr. Donilon joined Ben Rhodes, the Obama campaign speechwriter, who in 2009 had been elevated to deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. Also present was Tommy Vietor, whose entire career prior to NSC spokesman was as an Obama spinmeister—as a press aide in the 2004 Senate run, and campaign flack for the 2008 Iowa caucuses, and assistant White House press secretary. In fairness, his credentials also included getting caught on camera in 2010 pounding beers, shirtless, at a Georgetown bar. America's foreign-policy experts at work.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Obama doesn’t HAVE any Kissingers.
Should read Kissasses.
You can see the whole article here:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/kimberley-strassel-meet-obamas-kissingers-1402011139
Vietor is no Kissinger.
Van driver Tommy Vietor's entire career prior to NSC spokesman was as an Obama spinmeister—as a van driver for the press in Obama's 2004 Senate run, and campaign flack for the 2008 Iowa caucuses, and assistant White House press secretary........his credentials also included getting caught on camera in 2010 pounding beers, shirtless, at a Georgetown bar.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
http://www.washingtonspeakers.com/speakers/biography.cfm?SpeakerID=8614
Jon Favreau---- Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama (2009-2013), Columnist, The Daily Beast and Co-founder, Fenway Strategies
From 2009 through early 2013, Jon Favreau served as the director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama, a role he also played for the President during the 2008 presidential campaign. Favreau began writing with President Obama in 2005, when he started his first term as a U.S. Senator.
Prior to that, Favreau served as deputy director of Speechwriting for John Kerry during his 2004 presidential campaign. Favreau's passion for writing and public service first developed at the College of the Holy Cross, where he graduated with degrees in political science and sociology in 2003.
Favreau is the co-founder of Fenway Strategies where he has consulted and written speeches for several celebrities, Fortune 500 CEOs, and nonprofit leaders. In the spring of 2013, Favreau served as a fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics (run by Obama henchman David Axelrod); Favreau taught a weekly non-credit seminar entitled Storytelling in the Age of Sound Bites. Jon is also a columnist for The Daily Beast.
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/tommy-vietor-hot-free-agent-bloomberg-hans-nichols_b100072
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Speechwriting---Since Jon Favreau's departure as President Obama's chief speechwriter of eight years, the team at Fenway has crafted remarks for some of the world's most famous CEOs, philanthropists, celebrities, and government officials. Our approach to speechwriting is hands-on, personal, and collaborative, working directly with you to identify your core story, conducting the extensive research that brings a speech to life, drafting remarks from start to finish, and revising the speech until you're happy and confident with the final product.
Media Strategy---We will help you navigate an increasingly noisy, fractured media environment by connecting you with journalists, advising you on the timing and pitching of announcements, and employing the necessary strategies to ensure that your message breaks through. Tommy Vietor helped craft the media strategy that catapulted Barack Obama from longshot to victor in the Iowa Caucuses, and helped manage global national security crises at the White House. Today, Fenway is doing the same for a national environmental campaign, a national service organization, and one of the fastest-growing technology start-ups in the world.
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Jon Favreau---From 2009 through early 2013, Jon Favreau served as the director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama, a role he also played for the President during the 2008 presidential campaign. Favreau began writing with President Obama in 2005, when he started his first term as a U.S. Senator, and has had a hand in crafting nearly every major speech that the President has delivered over the last eight years. Featured in TIME magazine as one of the “ 100 Most Influential People in the World ” and in GQ's “ 50 Most Powerful People in D.C.”, Favreau is also a columnist for The Daily Beast and a public speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau.
Tommy Vietor---- Tommy Vietor worked as a spokesman for President Barack Obama for nearly a decade. Vietor served as the President's National Security Spokesman from January of 2011 through March of 2013 where he was the media's primary contact on all foreign policy and national security issues. From January 2009 through January 2011, Vietor was an Assistant White House Press Secretary responsible for foreign policy, education and labor issues. Vietor joined Obama's senate campaign in 2004 and served as Obama's U.S. Senate spokesman. In 2007, during the first-in-the- nation Iowa caucuses, Vietor worked as the Iowa Press Secretary, and continued his work on the campaign as a rapid response specialist in the 2008 general election. Vietor is regularly tapped by national television and print outlets to serve as an analyst on foreign policy issues.
Ben Schwerin---- Ben Schwerin worked with President Bill Clinton from 2003-2005, helping to open the Clinton Presidential Library and build the Clinton Foundation. From 2005-2007, he was an aide to U2 during the Vertigo world tour and remains an advisor to the ONE Campaign. He has served as a consultant to the Yucaipa Companies, EBX Group, the Global Philanthropy Group, and other leading businesses and nonprofits around the world. Schwerin is also writing and producing an upcoming television series for Showtime.
That wouldn’t by chance be a gay bar, would it?
Don’t know-—could be.
Kissinger is a foreign policy Realist. Obviously Kissinger doesn't work for Obama although he has advised Obama in the past. But Obama has other foreign policy Realists. Such as Hagel, Biden, and Kerry. Obama also has Liberal Interventionists, like Rice, Powers, and McDonough. Obama, like all dem presidents, has a foreign policy team composed of Realists and Liberal Interventionists. He doesn't have any NeoCons.
If you are a NeoCon, and most freepers are NeoCons, you will agree with the NeoCon author of the article which is published at a NeoCon website.
You paint with a spray rig, rather than a broad brush.
Tommy Vietor and Susan Rice face the camera for Barack O. but the real demon pulling the strings is Ben Rhodes, a mostly faceless decision maker along with Axelrod and Jarrett...all Socialist with Communist leanings...none with a base or love for America to guide them...money and power is all any of them recognize and as long as they can keep Barry O. in power, they will do anything to achieve that end.....Foreign Policy is not a means to their end.
I admired Ronald Reagan for having enough common sense and knowledge to know what he didn’t know and bringing in REAL experts to fill in the blanks!
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