Posted on 08/11/2014 12:44:51 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
He gives the kind of well-considered responses that suggest a president who carefully engages with truly difficult policy conundrums.
Yet at the end of the day, he often comes across as vacillating and indecisive -- an impression that can be fatal in his dealings with allies, adversaries, and of course electorates.
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It is Obama's bad luck to be chief executive at a moment when the consequences of several bad policies of the past century are blowing up, on his watch. His answers to particular questions are thoughtful, prudent, and mindful of the limits of American power. But taken together, missteps like taking a little too long to move on Iraq, stumbling in his effort to define bright lines in Syria, and failing to dissuade the Israelis from brutal air strikes on civilian neighborhoods in Gaza, turn salutary prudence into the perception of weakness.
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Thus the Obama paradox. He is one of the best-informed and most thoughtful foreign policy presidents we have had in a long time, but his very appreciation of complexity often comes across as indecision.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
Not because of his color but his character!
Obama can follow simple instructions- that's all.
No, he is not. And only a complete idiot would continue to say he is.
I'll bet you dollars to donuts that this guy didn't give Ronald Reagan any credit at all for the demise of the Soviet Union and the relative easy time that Clinton had in office, as a result.
Kuttner hasn’t learned a thing in all his years of being on the wrong side of thing more than even Joe Biden and John Kerry. Combined.
You have to be a liberal fan of Huffington post and Daily Kos to believe this story line.
Good Lord, are you kidding me?
A generation or two from now (I hope) true historians will look back at this time in history and ask why the media did not do it's job and report the absolute incompetence and danger this guy and his administration was and hold them accountable.
Edward Hamley speaking of Marshal Bezaine during the
Franco-Prussian war...
“The anxiety of the temporizing mind which prefers
postponement of a crisis to vigorous action.”
Sure sounds like Obama to me.
You should have added a ‘barf alert’. Now I have to clean off what I had spewed across my laptop keyboard.
I read this late last night, looking to see how the HP would react to the riots in Missouri, and was going to post it here. I am glad you did.
This is the point he made that made guffaw:
“Unlike Bush, Obama inhabits the reality-based foreign policy space, with no apologies. Unlike Bush, he has no messianic zealots among his advisers. He gives the kind of well-considered responses that suggest a president who carefully engages with truly difficult policy conundrums.”
For the longest time there were no comments. Now there are 80 with intelligent conservatives keeping up our end. Then there is this:
“Steve Dunn · Top Commenter
The US is nolonger the world police...just because we are a world power!
The “Shock and Awe” sort of big stick diplomacy of years/generations past is over.
The ‘right’ (wrong) can’t wait to intervene..a.k.a. invade other lands..but obnoxiously, defiantly aghast when taking care of its own..be it elderly, low-income (upon who’s backs this country has always depended and used and abused.
When the cry for less taxes blare forth, it means those who can pay more don’t want to/unwilling..but send the poor/middle class to die/shed blood..and squeeze more taxes..but the well off..again..few in uniform...then beyond rhetoric..treat them/us (former USMC Nam era here) like crap..until politically advantageous.
2016 is near..if America and its true ideals don’t wake up..God forbid the the direction of this country!
Moderates..liberals...listen up...put up or shut up and imagine 2 houses of congress..supreme court and WH in hands of Repubs...if you dare!”
But guys like these should have reinforcements from us here at FR:
“Richard Jackson · Top Commenter · Kalamazoo, Michigan
Robert, you said, “It is Obama’s bad luck to be chief executive at a moment when the consequences of several bad policies of the past century are blowing up, on his watch.” I think that you are wrong, twice. Just to pick a topic, what is it Mr. Bush’s fault that Mr. Obama withdrew the military from Iraq when many sensible people knew that they had to stay? When is it Mr. Bush’s fault that Mr. Obama drew red lines in the Syrian sand and they didn’t follow up? We have all been children and raised children. We all know what happens when you don’t follow through — see Iraq. We all know what happens when you set a boundary then don’t enforce it - see Syria. Please stop blaming Mr. Obama’s shortcomings on previous administrations. Mr. Obama owns his decisions just like Mr. Bush owns his decisions. Mr. Obama was wrong to withdraw from Iraq before the job was done and his is wrong to withdraw from Afghanistan under the current circumstances. In Syria, he should either have done nothing or he should have done something. We see the results of an empty threat. He is wrong about Israel — Hamas is the whole problem and to see or say otherwise is prejudiced against the Jews. And he is wrong about immigration. We have a weak indecisive president who has a vision of the world that that does not match reality. When reality is finally so obvious that it cannot be ignored, he concocts a solution that doesn’t match the problem and is out of time. And he does not trust or consider anyone with a different vision. America is weaker than she was 6 years ago and we have given away (not lost) our leadership position. In the process we have abandoned out allies so we stand more alone that before. We have reduced the size of our military so our deterrent is less. Therefore we are at greater risk from immigrants, world economic coercion, and terrorism with less ability to do anything about it. This situation is not just a little worse than it was and Mr. Obama and his political allies own it. Dude, stop digging.”
God job, Mr. Jackson!
Oh my, they just can’t keep from kissing his ass - NOTHING is ever his fault or his decision, he’s always “trapped” by the past or by the Republicans or by his own HUGE INTELLECT. This is nauseating.
Sigh. More "nuance" blather. Still. After all these years. They seem to measure intelligence in one's ability to be vague.
“He is one of the best-informed and most thoughtful foreign policy presidents we have had in a long time...”
The Koolaid is strong in this one.
what a load of bull. Are the insane? The Arab spring is all his. No blaming prior administrations.
Well W thought the Arabs would loves themselves some democracy, didn’t exactly work out.
Barack Obama has never gotten his lazy ass out of bed before 11am his whole life and it shows. He isn’t concerned about anything except playing golf and pretending to be a president.
Hey. You’re right. The lesson is and the lesson never learned by Obama from Bush is you don’t just overthrow a government. You better have the next regime in place or just leave well enough alone.
And i gather you don’t care for Bush. I’m pretty sure i haven’t posted anything stating what an amazing president he was. Nonetheless he stands heads and shoulders over Obama. By your posts i’m going to start assuming you like Obama’s policies. This is the 3rd or 4th time you’ve dragged Bush into a thread about Obama’s failures.
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